A mother’s “personal grudge” against China’s haze issues gave birth to
the trending environmental documentary 'China's Haze: Under the Dome.’
The country’s serious air pollution became very personal for former
State TV Reporter Chai Jing, when she became pregnant with her daughter.
Concerned about her daughter’s health, the former environmental issue
investigative reporter probed into the causes behind China’s serious air
pollution. The documentary has gone viral online and has received more
than millions of views on major online video websites.
The video might be forgotten by the masses within a week, but the
hazards of smog will not simply drift away. Environmental friendly LEDs
just might offer a solution to China’s thick haze.
Contact
Zhongshan Chitian Lighting Co.,Ltd
Address:Lianfeng industrial area B,Xiaolan town of zhongshan city, guangdongprovince, China
Zip code:528415
Phone:86-760-23822918/919
Fax:86-760-23822922
Contact:Mr Yang,
Email:sales02@chitianlighting.com
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Energy Efficient LEDs Could Alleviate China’s Smog
A mother’s “personal grudge” against China’s haze issues gave birth to
the trending environmental documentary 'China's Haze: Under the Dome.’
The country’s serious air pollution became very personal for former
State TV Reporter Chai Jing, when she became pregnant with her daughter.
Concerned about her daughter’s health, the former environmental issue
investigative reporter probed into the causes behind China’s serious air
pollution. The documentary has gone viral online and has received more
than millions of views on major online video websites.
The video might be forgotten by the masses within a week, but the
hazards of smog will not simply drift away. Environmental friendly LEDs
just might offer a solution to China’s thick haze.
Chai Jing in her documentary video 'China's Haze: Under the Dome.’
Lighting’s energy consumption is estimated to be around 17% to 20%,
according to LEDinside calculations. Based on China’s total energy
consumption of 5.52 trillion kilowatt per hour (KWh) in 2014, the
country’s lighting energy consumption would be about 1.1 trillion KWh.
Following the spread of highly energy efficient LEDs in the Chinese
market, lighting energy consumption could be halved, and cut down 300
million metric tons of coal consumption. Based on Chai’s statistics,
China’s coal consumption reached 3.6 billion metric tons in 2013. With
LEDs limited market penetration on the Chinese market, the technology
still holds huge potential in solving China’s smog issue.
Why are LEDs not as widespread on the market if it has huge energy
saving advantages? Similar to the steel industry’s oversupply issue
explored in the smog documentary, China has been the global lighting
manufacturing powerhouse. More than 90% of incandescent bulbs, CFLs and
other light sources are manufactured in the country. Traditional
incandescent bulbs are not energy efficient, while energy saving CFL’s
can cause mercury pollution. Yet, these two light sources have created
millions of jobs, and solved local Chinese government’s tax income, and
job employment issues.
On an optimistic note, China’s National Development and Reform
Commission has phased out 60W and above wattage incandescent bulbs,
which has been effective since Oct. 1, 2014. Although, the policy was
rolled out later than developed countries, it is better than never.
Effective management is still needed for Compact Fluorescent Lamps
(CFL) that are potential environmental hazards. These lamps continue to
benefit from central government fiscal subsidies. When the huge number
of CFL tubes which contain mercury reach the end of their lifetimes,
they usually are thrown away as average trash. Most people are unaware
of the environmental damage old CFL tubes can cause. If treated
inappropriately, it can become an environmental pollutant and became a
major “health killer.” The environmental costs of CFLs and potential
environmental impact it causes far exceeds its energy saving effects.
In 2012, China manufactured 4.28 billion CFL bulbs, of those
manufactured 1.53 billion was for domestic consumption, according to
China Association of Lighting Industry statistics. Assuming every CFL
contains 3 ml of mercury, the country’s 1.5 billion CFL bulbs could
discharge as much as 4.5 metric tons of mercury, and become a huge
environmental risk if inappropriate waste management treatment was
applied.
Looking back in history, a mysterious neurological disease emerged in
Minamata Bay, Japan in 1953. Local residents began to display syndromes
of nerve damage, paralysis, muscle weakness, but the cause of the
illness remained unidentified for some time. The number of those
affected eventually surpassed 7,000, before the disease was coined
“Minamata Disease”. Eventually the cause of the disease was linked to
the release of methylmercury in the industrial wastewater from the
Chisso Corporation's chemical factory. The local population had
unknowingly been eating mercury contaminated fish, shellfish and other
marine life. Despite more than six decades have passed since the mass
mercury poisoning incident in Japan, China still has not placed
importance on mercury contamination.
The lighting industry is a much
more market-orientated industry than the petroleum industry. Hence, it’s
important to strengthen market monitoring, and prevent poor quality
products from entering the market. However, smart consumers are also
crucial in changing the rules of competition and eliminating bad quality
manufacturers and products. If average consumers compared products and
became aware of energy efficacy, lifetimes, lighting quality and other
luminaire indicators, good quality manufacturers could emerge as
victors. Consumers smarter purchase choices could help edge
manufacturers disrupting the market with poor quality products out of
the industry. The Chinese LED lighting market
would also finally be able to avoid becoming a low quality product
market, overflowing with me too products under the umbrella of energy
efficacy
Government policies are not the only issue in spurring the
proliferation of LED luminaires. More importantly, as seen from Chai’s
example is personal action. The spread of LED luminaires on the market
will also rely on civilian action that vote in favor of good quality
products.