As Russia seeks to rid itself of its dependence on raw material exports and usher in innovations, the presidential commission for modernization has proposed an all-out transition to energy-saving bulbs, a business daily reported on Tuesday.
The move will enable Russia to drop incandescent lamps and switch immediately to highly efficient light-emitting diode lamps, Vedomosti reported.
The idea is expected to be approved today at a meeting of the presidential commission for modernization in Khanty-Mansiisk in Siberia.
The commission's draft resolution obtained by the paper instructs the economic development, industry and trade and finance ministries to submit proposals until June 1, 2010 "on developing production facilities and accelerated spread of diode lamps."
Before the commission's meeting in Khanty-Mansiisk, Anatoly Chubais, head of the country's hi-tech government corporation Rosnano, told President Dmitry Medvedev about the advantages of diode bulbs, saying they were seven times more efficient than ordinary lamps and virtually had an indefinite service life (50,000 hours).
However, even though diode bulbs are highly efficient, they are still very expensive and so far do not fit into the country's existing sanitary norms, the paper said.
MOSCOW, March 23 (RIA Novosti)
