The majority of the electricity in Madagascar is generated by fossil fuel thermal power plants. Madagascar imports oil for this, valued at approximately 100 million US dollars per year. The consequences of this are very high electricity costs and CO₂ emissions. With the subsidisation of high-quality energy-saving bulbs and appropriate legal conditions, the project from myclimate reduces electricity consumption and electricity costs for households in Madagascar.
High-quality energy-saving bulbs were hard to find and five to ten times more expensive than normal light bulbs. Thanks to myclimate, energy-saving bulbs can now be sold to households for a cheaper price. To make sure that energy-saving bulbs are not only affordable, but available as well, the project partner WWF is developing a local market. Together with the energy ministry and energy provider JIRAMA, a legal framework was created that will gradually ban inefficient light bulbs and promote energy-saving bulbs.
So far, the project has made energy-saving bulbs accessible to almost 100,000 households, which now also profit from electricity bills that are 10 percent lower. On the whole, the capital city Antananarivo saves 10-15 GWh yearly. An accompanying communication campaign informs the population of the benefits of efficient lights as well as how to handle and dispose of them correctly. All these activities help the country with its goal of being a society with low CO₂ emissions.