Last Saturday, the area behind the SM Mall of Asia sparkled as Firefly Electric and Lighting Corp. (FELCO) lit up a 75-feet tall Christmas tree strung with eco-friendly lights.
This huge Christmas symbol is adorned with more than 600 pieces of Firefly Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) and 47, 000 colorful pieces of Firefly Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs. Despite its size, this new holiday attraction consumes energy equivalent to only 8 flat irons!
Guests and passers-by alike were treated to a festive street party involving magical lights, fireworks, free carnival entertainment, and an amazing "dance of lights", the first ever in the country, featuring dozens of Firefly dancers.
Jhie Greenwood, FELCO Marketing Manager, acknowledges, "We Filipinos love Christmas. It is the time of the year when families get together and Filipino overseas workers go home to be with loved ones. FELCO is once again lighting up our eco-friendly Firefly Christmas Tree to provide a venue where Filipino families can bond and enjoy 'family time' while enjoying vibrant and sparkling Christmas lights.”
According to Greenwood, the concept of the Firefly Christmas Tree aims to remind Filipinos that a festive Christmas celebration doesn’t need to hurt the budget and the environment. I totally agree!
“We realize that more Filipinos are looking at cost-cutting measures to cope with the changing times and through our Firefly CFLs, we are making the lighting experience both environment-friendly and economical,” she adds.
A couple of years ago, I wrote an article for MoneySense magazine entitled Upfront Costs for Long-Time Savings where I included CFLs and LED lights in my list. My family and I have long ago switched to using these kinds of lighting because they not only help us save money on our electricity bill, they are also environment-friendly, which is very important to my me and my husband as we are both staunch advocates when it comes to helping save the Earth.
In a FELCO press release, CFLs are described as "fluorescent lamps that give off light similar to common incandescent bulbs but with reduced energy consumption and longer life, making it economical and practical to use at the same time. A 15 watt Firefly CFL used in place of a 60 watt regular incandescent bulb saves about 82 kWh over a period of one year. This means reduced electricity bills and increased personal savings for Filipino families."
In addition, Firefly CFLs lasts up to 5 times longer than regular incandescent bulbs and they use about one-fourth the energy, producing 80% less heat while producing more light per watt. This means that a 15 watt CFL has the same illumination as that of a 60 watt regular incandescent bulb.
To further encourage usage of eco-efficient CFLs, FELCO has a program where they are giving away free Firefly CFLs in exchange for used or busted incandescent bulbs of any brand through its Palit Firefly CFL program. I'll try to post more about this as soon as I get more details.
No comments:
Post a Comment