Railways have decided to replace all electric bulbs in its colonies with compact fluorescent light (CFL) across the country as part of its efforts to check climate change. "A total of 2.6 million CFL bulbs will be fitted at every household in railway colonies as part of the clean development management and equal number of incandescent bulbs withdrawn," a senior railway ministry official said. However, railways will not bear the cost of the CFL replacement as all the compact fluorescent bulbs will be provided by an agency according to the proposal.

There are various reasons behind shortage of power including unmindful consumption of energy. Therefore, it is the crying need of the hour and responsibility of everyone to save power. Most of the sources of power generation are dependent on nature's bounty and it is difficult to guess as to what would happen to these sources in the face of increasing global warming and shortage of water and coal in future.

The PSEB is planning to extend cash rewards to the panchayats of those villages that have achieved full conversion to compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). At the same time, the board is likely to give a little relaxation in time to over 10 lakh farmers, who have been told to switch over to CFLs by April 15. The board was likely to extend the deadline by June 30. Though the reward amount is yet to be decided, the board is contemplating giving Rs 1 lakh each to the panchayats achieving full conversion to CFLs, sources said.

Kathewadi village in Baramati taluka, hometown of Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in Pune district, will soon become the only village in Pune to switch over to compact flourescent lamps (CFL). In two months time, the entire village will do away with the sodium vapour lamps and tubelights and switch over to the energy conserving CFL.

The public sector power distribution companies in Rajasthan have formulated a plan to popularise the use of energy-saving compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) for both domestic and commercial purposes and generate public awareness to save electricity through environment-friendly methods.

On the occasion of World Earth Day, which was celebrated recently, Big 92.7 FM addressed key issues concerning the environment while increasing awareness on matters of global concern such as fuel conservation, water conservation, global warming, etc In an effort to increase awareness, Big 92.7 FM held a massive signature campaign across the state. In addition a candlelight rally was held in the evening to coincide with World Earth Day, starting from Kala Academy, winding its way right down to the municipal garden in Panjim.

Chief Minister P.K.Dhumal warned today that water scarcity and other environment-related problems were bound to get aggravated unless effective steps were taken to reverse the process of global warming and asserted that the Centre must compensate the hill states that were playing a vital role in reducing greenhouse gases by maintaining forest cover.

Chandigarh In the agrarian states of Punjab and Haryana, power cuts have been the order of the day for years. This, in turn, has affected economic development in these states. While the two states have decided to spend almost one-third of their five-year Plan for 2007-12 on power projects, they have also realised that the immediate need was to save energy. With that in mind, Punjab has tied up with a US major, Econoler International, to light the streets of municipal areas of the state.

Scientists, inventors and entrepreneurs are focusing on ways to help the environment. Some of our favorite ideas.