Consumer choice in an energy efficient lighting context

Abstract

Wide use of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) offers opportunity for residential savings with favourable environmental benefits. The size of the South African residential market shows that there are strong opportunities to be optimised. To exploit such opportunities, it is important to look at strategies that influence independent and interdependent consumer choice in lighting, and to examine how far these strategies have been successful in promoting the market penetration of CFLs. While this is so, there are some areas of concern about the performance of the product that have to be addressed, as well as need for public action arising from external diseconomies of consumption.