Power of one bulb: Igniting a quiet environmental revolution

Today, grand infrastructure and billion-dollar investments in electric vehicles, hydrogen centres, and solar farms are often at the centre stage in the climate story across the globe, including India.

- Dr Kuldeep Singh, Associate Professor, Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune and Dr Neha Seth, Associate Professor, School of Management Studies, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi.

Still, we run the danger in this scale-up competition of forgetting one of our cheapest, most available, and immediately effective climate solutions: one 10-watt lightbulb.

India has more than 250 million homes. If all these homes merely turned off just one LED light bulb for four hours daily, the savings would be over 3.6 terawatt-hours, almost 30% of Bhutan's total electricity consumption for a year. But beyond wattage, the impact is revolutionary, 2.9 million tonnes CO₂ saved, equivalent to removing ~6,00,000 petrol vehicles from India's roads. This can lead to a quiet and effective environmental revolution.