April 18-2007

TORONTO — Ontario is banning the sale of inefficient light bulbs by 2012 and launching five province-wide conservation initiatives as part of the government's commitment to build a conservation culture, Energy Minister Dwight Duncan and Environment Minister Laurel Broten announced today.

"It's lights out for old, inefficient bulbs in Ontario," Duncan said. "By making this one small change, we can all make an enormous difference in the way we use electricity."

New efficient lighting such as compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) use around 75 per cent less electricity than standard old fashioned incandescent bulbs. Replacing all 87 million incandescent bulbs in Ontario households with CFLs would save six million megawatt hours annually — enough to power 600,000 homes.

"Together, Ontarians can – and will – do their part to fight climate change starting with something as simple as changing a light bulb," said Broten. "This is an important day for Ontario's environment – this action alone represents a huge step forward in reducing greenhouse gas emissions – it's the equivalent of taking 250,000 cars off the road."

The Ministry of Energy will meet with industry, US regulators, and federal and provincial governments to develop new performance standards for lamps and to draft regulations to ban the sale of inefficient lighting by 2012 where alternatives exist in the market. In addition, as of today, the government will only purchase energy efficient light bulbs for its own buildings.

"We support the government's initiative to improve the efficiency of all lighting," said Elyse Allan, President and CEO of GE Canada which has a lamp manufacturing plant in Oakville. "By encouraging the use of high efficiency lighting, at home and at work, all of us will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions."

"Friends of the Earth congratulates the McGuinty government on their important decision to ban inefficient lighting," said Beatrice Olivastri, CEO, Friends of the Earth Canada. "A regulation for the ban plus their commitment to immediately cease provincial government's purchases of out-dated bulbs is a recipe for success - good for energy conservation and good for fighting climate change."

Today also marks the launch of five innovative energy conservation programs for summer 2007 that will give Ontarians the tools they need to save energy, money, and the environment:

• Every Kilowatt Counts — a coupon and incentive brochure being mailed to every household in Ontario. The program provides coupons for CFL bulbs, ceiling fans, timers and other energy-saving devices.

• Cool Savings Rebate Program — provides rebates for central air conditioner tune-ups and for the installation of energy-efficient central air conditioning systems and programmable thermostats.

• Great Refrigerator Roundup — will help take old, inefficient fridges out of service. Every 1,000 refrigerators retired will save enough electricity to power more than 130 homes.

• Summer Savings — offers residential and small business consumers an incentive for reducing power use: cutting use by 10 per cent during a set period gives consumers an additional 10 per cent rebate on their electricity bills.

• Peaksaver — a voluntary program that allows local distribution companies to remotely cycle down central air conditioners, water heaters and pool pumps when the electricity system is stretched.

"These five programs show that conserving electricity can be easy," said Peter Love, Ontario's Chief Energy Conservation Officer. "Consumers begin saving money immediately, both on the products they purchase and by reducing electricity costs."

Since 2003, the province has made available up to $2 billion for energy efficiency and conservation programs. The summer 2007 conservation programs are just the latest conservation initiatives introduced by the McGuinty government. Others include:

• A commitment to reduce Ontario's projected peak electricity demand by five per cent, and the government's own electricity use by 10 per cent, by the end of 2007.
• Increasing the range of products covered by Ontario's Energy Efficiency Act to save Ontarians money and encourage energy conservation.
• Legislating improvements to the Ontario Building Code to give it the toughest energy-efficiency standards of any building code in the country.
• Providing over $14 million to support low Income conservation programs including projects with the Social Services Housing Corporation, the Energy Efficiency Assistance for Social Housing Program and the Affordable Housing Energy Efficiency Program
• Supporting a wide range of incentive programs including the Every Kilowatt Counts Program that distributed over 2.8 million CFLs in 2006.
• Providing $1.5 million to Project Porchlight to deliver compact florescent light bulbs to communities across Ontario.

"Taken together, these programs represent the largest coordinated effort Ontario has ever made to conserve electricity," said Duncan. "We're working with Ontarians to build a culture of conservation that will help ensure our province has the power it needs to grow and prosper now and long into the future."