Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac, in his Budget speech on Friday, hailed the Pilicode model of energy saving. While announcing the measures for energy saving and environmental conservation, including banning CFL and filament bulbs, Isaac said the projects in the model of Pilicode bulb scheme will be given more financial aid.
What is the Pilicode model?
Pilicode gram panchayat in Kasaragod district was officially declared as the first filament-free panchayat in the country in April 2018, though the project was launched a year before.
The local body achieved this rare feat by replacing all the filament bulbs by LED bulbs under its unique project ‘Oorjayanam’. The project aimed to make the panchayat energy efficient. As many as 40,000 filament bulbs were replaced by LED bulbs from the houses, shops and other establishments.
How effective is the model?
The initiative reportedly resulted in a bimonthly reduction of 1,20,328 units of power consumption in the panchayat in March 2017 compared to the corresponding period in the previous year after the implementation of the project.
How did Pilicode implement the project?
As part of the project, the panchayat distributed 8,900 pieces of 9 watt LED bulbs through the local KSEB office at Rs 70 a bulb and 14,000 LED bulbs at Rs 50 a piece.
People were given the awareness classes to replace the zero watt conventional bulbs, which consumes 15 watts, with 0.5-watt LED bulbs. Households were also asked to switch off refrigerators between 6 pm and 10 pm.
