Here in Vietnam there is sometimes not enough electricity during peak hours. When that happens, a decision is made to cut the juice going to different locations. This is guaranteed to upset everyone involved whether it be mothers at home, offices scampering with activity or factories running full tilt. If a large business stands idle for three days because the electricity has been cut off, it's going to lose a rather large piece of change.
Lighting eats up 20 percent of all of the electricity that's used in the country. In Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City lighting accounts for just three percent because there is so much electrified activity going on. Dr. Nguyen Van Tien of the Institute of Material Sciences (of the Vietnam Institute of Sciences) believes that we should not cease providing lighting during peak hours. He did suggest that less electricity could be used by reducing the wattage. Use a 20W bulb in two places instead of a single 100W bulb, for example.
For decades scientists around the world have been trying to discover how they can get more power and footcandles of light from the same amount of electricity. A wide variety of economic light bulbs are available such as the 32-100W T8 Triphosphor fluorescent bulbs, 14-28W T5 fluorescent bulbs, and there's current-inverting air-conditioners and more economical motors for industrial machinery. Although the technology exists and many energy-saving products are being made, most people are not using them because they are more expensive than old-standard appliances or the higher cost for energy efficient lamps is seen as too expensive by poor people. For many reasons, economical bulbs are usually 1.5 times more expensive than the old standards. A T8 Triphosphor compact bulb, for example, costs VND15,000 compared to VND9,000 for a T10 bulb. So, people are choosing to buy the cheaper bulbs. T5 lamps use 10 percent less electricity and are 20 percent brighter than standard bulbs. This could mean a 30 percent cash savings and a reduction in electricity used. For this reason, people need to change the way they use electricity in order to have enough electricity to go around./.