Energy-efficient lighting manufacturers are increasing their technological input to improve the life of new bulbs and cut prices.

Guangdong Shunxiang Energy-Saving Lighting Technology has developed a new kind of energy-saving bulb that could save up to 70 percent of the electricity used by traditional incandescent bulbs.

The life of the light bulb could reach more than 60,000 hours, 10 times that of regular energy-saving lamps and 100 times more than incandescent light bulbs, according to General Manager Lin Weihe.

"Our lamps with new technology only need to be changed every 10 years, but in the same period, a mercury vapor lamp or sodium vapor lamp would have to be changed 15 times," Lin told China Daily.

The company, headquartered in Chaozhou, Guangdong Province, is displaying its latest products at the ongoing 10th China Hi-tech Fair in Shenzhen.

The company plans to invest 500 million yuan (US$73.10 million) in a new plant, which could be operational by 2010, with an annual production capacity of 3 million units.

European Union countries will ban the use of incandescent light bulbs in favor of energy-efficient lightings, following the United States and Australia, by the end of this decade.

China is also actively promoting the use of energy-saving lighting. It plans to sell at least 150 million highly efficient energy-saving light bulbs from 2006 to 2010.

(China Daily October 17, 2008)