a california assemblyman lloyd levine (D-Van Nuys) is proposing to ban the traditional incandescent bulbs, a 125 year old technology and replace them with compact fluorescent light bulbs.

kudos to this brilliant idea. the old traditional lamps suck out energy wasting enormous amount of energy. from the above link, the most efficient compact fluorescent bulbs use 75 percent less electricity than incandescent, which translates into less smog and fewer greenhouse gases released by power plants.

california electricity consumption is around 45000 mw and by this several hundred (and possibly several thousands) megawatts can be saved.

in india too the situation is the same. if all of india can turn into CFL then the energy saved will be 5000mw a whopping 5% of india's electricity resulting in annual savings of upto 25000 crore (with 5 crore rupees per mw).

will the development mongers listen and follow california example. will terms like sustainable, green, energy efficiency, etc be part of the growth model or will these be scroned upon benefting only the scroners?