November 2009 – The free LED lights recently handed out to the 2.5 million participants of the Postcode Loterij through the Albert Heijn supermarkets proved a huge success with more than one million being handed out in just seven days. Participants in the lottery were given three weeks to collect a free LED lamp as part of the 'What stops you getting LED' campaign.
Minister Jacqueline Cramer of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, who supports the campaign, is happy to see how the Netherlands is getting used to new, sustainable LED lights: "I am impressed by the fact that 1 million people have collected an LED lamp over such a short period. It proves that people welcome low-energy lights. The need to radically reduce our energy consumption is a huge challenge, but one to which we can all contribute. The government also aims to inspire people and change their views of 'new lights' in its recently started PR campaign 'Low-energy lights, bright choice'."
The recent commotion caused by comparing the amount of light produced by a Pharox LED light with that of a 60 watt bulb has irritated experts at universities of technology, shifting attention away from the LED light itself. In response, universities have joined efforts to address the issue.
Prof Ton Backx (Dean of the Electronic Engineering Faculty at the Eindhoven University of Technology) said: "We at Eindhoven University of Technology are enthusiatic about the new LED lamp. We are impressed by its performance in light perception and technical quality. A lot has already been said about comparing LED lights with 60 watt bulbs. It is the closest we can get to make a comparison, but it is far from ideal. We therefore aim to change the more than 100-year old criteria for assessing the quality of such a sustainable source of light. In cooperation with the TU Delft and the Universities of Twente we have taken the initiative to develop a new measuring method. The current Lumen and Lux measuring methods are no longer representative for today's great LED technology."
The Nationale Postcode Loterij and the World Wildlife Fund have joined efforts in the campaign to demonstrate that individuals, too, can help stop climate change. Climate change currently constitutes the biggest threat to man and nature across the world.
