Energy-efficient lamps
turn students bright

HANOI, Vietnam – Call it Thanh Tri Town Primary School’s greatest lightbulb moment yet.

Since the school switched from incandescent bulbs to energy-efficient fluorescent lamps a few months ago, teachers like Nguyen Thi Thu Ha says she has been spending less time explaining the lessons because the pupils could now see her writings on the board, without glare or shadow.

“They used to have to turn to their (seatmate) and ask, ‘What is it?'” the fourth grade teacher recounted to visiting journalists on training under the London-based Thomson Reuters Foundation, and Vietnam Television.

One of Ha’s pupils, 10-year-old Pham Hong Mai, shared, “Before, I couldn’t see the blackboard clearly. Now I can.” Teacher Ha says Mai has moved to the honor roll and her other classmates showed better test results.

Phan Hong Mai, a fourth grade student at Thanh Tri Town Primary School in the suburb of Hanoi, says the new lighting system has helped her learn her lessons better. Video by Tita C. Valderama.

Moreover, school principal Nguyen Tat Hoan said that classroom electricity consumption has decreased by roughly 30 percent, even with twice the number of lamps installed that has dramatically improved each room’s brightness.

The switch to high-efficient fluorescent lamps is one of several energy-saving and environment-friendly measures implemented in Vietnam, a neighbor of the Philippines that is often listed among the countries most vulnerable to climate change.

With power rates in the Philippines steadily increasing and the government grappling with limited budget, the switch to fluorescent lamps not only in public schools but also in business establishments and households has been highly encouraged.

Although the compact fluorescent light is more expensive than the traditional incandescent lamp, the CFL uses two-thirds less energy and lasts six to 10 times longer than incandescent.

The Philippine government committed in 2008 to phase out production of incandescent lamps by 2010 in favor of energy-conserving fluorescent lamps to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and cut electricity costs.

To produce electricity, both the Philippines and Vietnam are reliant on hydro, fossil, coal, and gas –the leading sources of carbon pollution that destroys the ozone layer. Scientists have pointed to the increasingly remarkable changes in the weather patterns like heavy rains during summer months and hot days during the rainy season as clear evidence of climate change that pose serious threats on humans and the environment.

To reduce the adverse effects of climate change, most governments grab the opportunity to undertake various measures, including linking up with international and local communities, to adapt to the change.

In the case of Vietnam, it passed laws on efficient energy conservation in 2005 and worked with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Global Environment Facility, and national institutions like the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) to develop and promote the use of energy-efficient public lighting.

Prof. Phan Hong Khoi, UNDP project director, said Vietnam consumes 25 percent of its energy for lighting. “That’s why energy efficiency in lighting plays a very important role in order to save energy effectively,” he told a dozen journalists from Vietnam Television and other Southeast Asian media outfits.

“Vietnam is mainly dependent on hydro, coal, and gas to run its power plants,” he said. “And as we use power from thermal plants, we need large quantity of coal and gas that produce carbon dioxide and this destroys the ozone layer. That means, if we can save energy we reduce CO2 emission.”

He said experts calculated five years ago that for every kilowatt hour of energy saved on electricity, CO2 emission is reduced by 0.54 kilograms. The numbers could have increased with the reduction of the amount of gas used in thermal power plants since then, Khoi added.

Photos by Tita C. Valderama

As proof of the success of the public lighting program, the five-year project called Vietnam Energy Efficient Public Lighting (VEEPL) has turned the Rang Dong Light Source and Vacuum Flask Joint Stock Co. (Ralaco)- the biggest state-run lighting manufacturing plant – into a largely privatized and a highly profitable maker of energy-efficient lamps in the country.

“I think VEEPL of UNDP is one of the most effective projects we have experienced,” said Ralaco director general Nguyen Doan Thang, pointing to a January 2011 company report that shows a 128-percent growth in its sales revenue and 100.2-percent profit rise before tax in 2010 from the previous year, despite the energy crisis Vietnam has experienced since 2006.

Workers’ income has likewise increased, he said. “The living standard of our staff is at medium level in Hanoi,” he bragged, adding that Ralaco has charity projects in communities as part of its corporate social responsibility.

Thang also said that since the project began in 2006, government’s equity to the factory had been reduced from 100 percent to 20 percent, and investments from private companies support a 150-billion Vietnamese dong ($7.17 million) new technology to produce more energy-efficient light bulbs.

Company leaders initially estimated they could recoup the investment in four to five years. But, to their surprise, it was fully recovered in less than three years given the increasing demand for the cost-saving power tool, Thang said.

UNDP provided mainly technical support to the project that will end in June 2011, but Ralaco executives said they are hoping for an extension as it develops the technology of reducing lead, mercury, and other lamp materials that are harmful to the environment.

Ralaco has posted rapid growth in its exports of the energy-efficient fluorescent lamps to South Korea, Brazil, Sri Lanka, Australia, and India, with the numbers increasing by 59.1 percent in 2010 alone over the previous year, Thang said.

The new production line that has employed 500 persons now accounts for 60 percent of the company’s revenues as it produces less of the conventional bulbs and more of the high-efficient cost-saving lights. The sprawling Ralaco factory is in Hanoi’s Thanh Xuan district, a 30-minute drive from downtown Hanoi.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Construction has endorsed the use of the lamps in the country’s half a million public schools. So far, though, only 10 percent — mostly in urban areas — has switched from incandescent lights because of money problems.

“In poor, remote areas it’s very difficult to raise the funds,” said economist Nguyen Duc Minh, who works with the UNDP-supported project.

Another 30-minute drive from the factory was the Thanh Tri Town Primary School in the southeastern side of Hanoi. With the school’s expansion still ongoing, only eight of its 20 classrooms are now equipped with energy-saving lights.

It needs about $500 to install new lights in one classroom, Minh said. The cost already includes the design, cables and wires, and other materials to install the new lighting device.

Each renovated classroom has 13 tubular fluorescent lamps with electronic ballasts fitted in metal fixtures that are suspended on the same level as ceiling fans for maximum brightness. Two lamps are focused on the board so that students would have clear view of what is written on it.

The fourth and fifth grades, which are said to have higher number of students diagnosed with nearsightedness and other eye-related diseases, occupy the renovated classrooms with energy-efficient lights, said Principal Hoan.

According to him, a survey showed that the number of nearsighted pupils has decreased from 17 percent to 12 percent since the new lighting system was installed last December. One fourth grader wearing glasses also said his grade has been adjusted from 2.5 to 2.0 since he moved to the new classroom, meaning his glasses are not as thick as before.

Minh said a classroom with 13 pieces of 36-watt lamps has illumination of 600 lux (i.e.measure of brightness), six times what the other classroom with six 50-watt lamps has, and twice the international standard of 300 lux for adequate brightness in a classroom.

“In my experience in another primary school, a conventional classroom has 20 lamps but the brightness was only 200 lux with the conventional lights with 50 watts,” he said. “Here we are using 36-watt lamps with electronic ballast. So even with more lamps and brighter classroom, the electricity consumption is still lower.”

With more classrooms equipped with the high-efficient lighting system, Minh quipped, “It’s not our fault now if they are nearsighted….they must be watching too much TV.”