LEDs From Lemnis Lighting Offset Carbon Emissions at the FIFA 2010 World Cup

Lemnis Lighting Announces Kick Off of Large Scale LED Retrofitting Program in South Africa

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Jun 10, 2010, 06:00 ET

JOHANNESBURG, June 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Lemnis Lighting™, through its South African subsidiary Lemnis Lighting Africa, has been selected by the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) in liaison with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Department of Energy, Department of Tourism, Central Energy Fund, Eskom and the Local Organizing Committee, to be a key contributor in helping to offset the carbon emissions generated as a result of the FIFA 2010 World Cup.

The DEA's initiative to Green the FIFA World Cup includes three major greening projects: a UNEP program to offset the carbon emissions of eleven World Cup teams, renewable energy interventions in six World Cup host cities and an awareness-raising drive on green tourism.

Working with the "Glowball against Global Warming Campaign" along with international sustainability entrepreneur Maurits Groen, Lemnis Lighting has commenced the "LED's Kick Off" program, a large scale retrofitting of inefficient lighting with LEDs in hotels, office buildings, households, streetlighting and in rural areas. A portion of the carbon credits generated as a result of this mass roll-out of LED lighting will be donated to the DEA to offset the domestic carbon footprint of the World Cup 2010 event (estimated at 900,000 tons of CO2).

The foundation of the "LED's Kick Off" program follows Lemnis Lighting's successful mass introduction of LEDs in the Netherlands in cooperation with the Nationale Postcode Loterij (NPL), which was supported by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). This led to the South African and Netherlands governments working together to find affordable solutions to tackle climate change.

"LED's Kick Off" is the first Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) program in the world using LED lighting. Under the Kyoto protocol, the CDM is designed to achieve the goals of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Investors may develop projects that reduce carbon emissions in emerging economies, thus creating carbon credits than may be monetized by selling them to companies that need additional credits or allowances in order to reach their carbon emissions goals. Through the generation of carbon credits, Lemnis Lighting is able to offer attractive financial incentives to remove the hurdle for customers and institutions in implementing groundbreaking LED technology.

The project will also include distribution of "Glowball" soccer balls, and an education program for up to 300,000 children in South Africa on "how to become a climate hero!". The education program will be implemented by Food & Trees for Africa, a South African-based social enterprise.

"Lemnis Lighting is leading the revolution in LED technology. With the 'LED's Kick Off' program, momentum is added to our recent entry into the South African market and the broader African continent. The education program will also ensure that the benefits of this program will extend beyond the FIFA 2010 World Cup, and will realize lasting climate change awareness for generations to come," said Warner Philips, Co-Founder of Lemnis Lighting and President of Lemnis, Inc (USA). "This brings us a big step closer to fulfilling our dream of helping emerging economies leapfrog polluting technologies that the west has used for more than a century, catapulting them to the forefront of technology leadership."

Lemnis Lighting's complete range of Pharox LED products, high efficiency street lights with Lemnis' revolutionary mesopic lighting technology, and the off-grid Pharox Solar will be used for the program. Pharox LEDs typically last 5 times longer than CFLs, do not contain mercury, are recyclable, have a lifetime of up to 25 years and deliver a similar or better light experience while offering electricity savings of up to 90%. These savings represent a substantial and immediate reduction in carbon emissions and electricity usage.

"Lemnis Lighting recently opened an office in Johannesburg and intends, over time, to further contribute to the South African economy and technology base by investing in local manufacturing and R&D facilities along with its strategic distribution partner Pharox Lumens Africa," said Remko Gaastra, global CEO of Lemnis Lighting™.

By retrofitting 3 million sockets with Pharox 300 LED light bulbs, 240,000 MWh in electricity can be saved on an annual basis - equivalent to the annual energy output of a 60 MW coal-fired power plant, confirming the relevance of a demand side management approach.

About Lemnis Lighting

Lemnis Lighting BV is at the forefront of global LED lighting technology. Lemnis has been recognized as a market leader in the field of LED lighting since 2006 after introducing its first Pharox LED light. In addition to its large-scale rollout program of consumer, street and greenhouse lighting in the Netherlands, Lemnis is also active in the areas of development, production and sales, with offices in the Netherlands, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Singapore and Johannesburg. Lemnis Lighting is a subsidiary of Tendris Holding. Tendris initiates, develops and invests in companies focusing on market-driven, sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions.

www.lemnislighting.com.

SOURCE Lemnis Lighting