The Times of India 28.08.2012
Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation takes green way to lighting
HUBLI: An increasing burden of electricity bills has prompted the Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) to consider replacing all streetlights with CFLs.
The HDMC pays an electricity bill of Rs 8 crore annually.
The twin cities have more than 40,000 streetlights. The HDMC hopes to
save about 40% energy and Rs 3 crore in electricity bills by using CFLs
and LED lamps. After getting a nod from Hescom engineers, the HDMC will
replace incandescent bulbs with CFLs and LED lamps.
HDMC now uses tubelights, sodium vapour lamps, mercury vapour lamps, high-mast installations and other bulbs for illumination.
The HDMC has held meetings with engineers and electrical department professors regarding installation of CFL lamps.
They all have welcomed the move, and are preparing reports about the
benefits of adopting energy-saving lighting. Hescom is finalizing
reports to be submitted to HDMC, according to a source.
Satish Phatke,
HDMC executive engineer, told TOI: "The HDMC is considering replacing
existing bulbs with energy-efficient lamps. We are waiting for reports
from Hescom. We will finalize the project once we receive them."
HDMC engineers say the energy-saving initiative can be started as a
pilot project in some part of the twin cities. "We can can extend the
project to all the 67 wards of Hubli-Dharwad after studying its
benefits."
