§ Mr. Skeetasked the Secretary of State for Energy if he will estimate the extent to which electricity savings could be achieved by the wider use in public services of fluorescent tubes.
§ Mr. MellorIt is not possible to provide a realistic estimate because no information is available on the ratio of fluorescent tubes to incandescent lamps in use in the public services as a whole; nor on the extent to which further change to fluorescent tubes might be possible.
Within the Government Estate it is only where there are special circumstances that incandescent lamps continue to be specified for new buildings. A great deal of conversion work on existing Government installations has already been carried out. The numbers of incandescent lamps remaining are now relatively small so that their conversion will not make a major impact on the electricity consumption of the Government Estate as a whole.
Further significant savings in the electricity used for lighting are expected to come in future from the adoption of modern lamps which can be widely used as replacements for both incandescent lamps and existing flourescent tubes.