Johannesburg, 14 June 2010 - Lemnis Lighting, through its South African subsidiary Lemnis Lighting Africa, has been selected by the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) in liaison with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Department of Energy, Department of Tourism, Central Energy Fund, Eskom and the Local Organizing Committee, to be a key contributor in helping to offset the carbon emissions generated as a result of the FIFA 2010 World Cup.
This initiative will form part of the DEA's national greening program initiative and is linked to DEA programs such as the recently launched "National Greening" brand.
Upon initiation by the Foundation Glowball against Global Warming" together with international sustainability entrepreneur Maurits Groen, Lemnis Lighting has commenced the "LED's Kick Off" program, a large scale refitting of inefficient lighting with LED lighting in hotels, office buildings, households, on the streets and in rural areas. Part of the carbon credits generated as a result of this mass roll-out of LED lighting will be retired and donated to the DEA to compensate the entire domestic carbon footprint of the World Cup 2010 event (estimated at 900,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent).
The foundation of the program was laid at the Copenhagen climate change summit in December 2009 in discussions between the Ministers of Environment of South Africa and the Netherlands to find ways to address the urgency of tackling climate change. It follows Lemnis Lighting's successful mass introduction of LED lighting in the Netherlands in cooperation with the Nationale Postcode Loterij (NPL) which was supported by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
The LED's Kick Off project is the first programmatic CDM programme in the world using LED lighting. Through the generation of carbon credits, Lemnis Lighting is able to offer attractive financial incentives to remove the hurdle for customers and institutions in implementing this groundbreaking technology. The project will also include "Glowball" soccer balls and an education program for up to 300,000 children in South Africa on "how to become a climate hero!", learning them how to live a sustainable life and save energy. The education programme will be implemented by South Africa's Food & Trees for Africa.
Lemnis Lighting's wide range of Pharox LED products with high efficiency, the mesopic light concept for street lights and off grid solar LED applications will be used for the program. The products last 5x longer than CFLs, do not contain harmful substances such as mercury, are recyclable, have a lifetime of up to 25 years and deliver a similar or better light experience whilst offering electricity savings of up to 90% compared to other light technologies. These savings represent a substantial and immediate reduction in carbon emissions and electricity usage.
Francois van Tonder, MD of Lemnis Lighting Africa said " Lemnis Lighting is leading the revolution in LED technologies that are easily retrofitted in existing luminaries. With the achievement of project status for our LED's Kick Off programme, momentum is added to our recent entry into the South African market and the broader African continent. The envisaged education program will also ensure that the benefits of this programme will not only be related to the FIFA 2010 World Cup, but will bring a lasting change in climate change awareness for generations to come".
Remko Gaastra, global CEO of Lemnis Lighting, added. "Lemnis Lighting recently opened an office in Johannesburg and intends over time to further contribute to the South African economy and technology base by investing in local manufacturing and R&D facilities along with its strategic distribution partner Pharox Lumens Africa."
By retrofitting 3 million Pharox 300 LED light bulbs, ~240,000 MWh in electricity can be saved on an annual basis - equivalent to a 60 MW coal-fired power plant, which confirms the relevance of a good demand side management approach.
