Parts of our power shortage problems can be solved if our government takes immediate simple steps to address issues of power wastages. From the domestic point of view, a lack of power results in poor sleep, worsened by the noise of generators thats run through the night. Lack of sleep and Malaria alone grossly affects the productivity and sanity of most nigerians. If you drive regularly on nigerian roads, u will come to terms with the prevalence of anger and frustrations due to lack of adequate sleep. If we free up more power for homes, we will have less of malaria to deal with, and happier and more refreshed nigerians.

One common cause of power wastages includes our use of the traditional Light Bulbs TLB i.e incandescent lights. Approximately 90% of the power consumed by an incandescent light bulb is emitted as heat, rather than as visible light. The average Nigerian home uses the TLB instead of the Energy Bulbs. The reasons are not far fetched. It is far cheaper that the energy saving light bulbs. While a good Energy saving bulb could cost N200, the TLB is sold for N50. Lets do a little calculation, Let us assume there are 1,000,000 homes in Nigeria, a conservative estimate for a 140m population. An average home will have 4 of this TLBs. each TLB with an average power rating of 50w. In all, the TLBs will require 200,000,000w=200Mw to power them from a pool of 3000MW generated by NEPA during peak periods. The Energy saving bulbs of same Lumens (the measurement of light capacity) rating will have a power rating in the range of 8watts. That will reslut in 32,000,000wats=32MW. a 625% saving on cost and energy. The freed up power can go into more homes to power fans which only takes between 10 -15watts, and have more impact on our health. Another benefit of Energy bulb is that they generate much less heat and also have a longer life span

The New minister of the power ministry, Mr olanrewaju Babalola needs to immediately ban the importation and use of the traditional light bulbs. Brazil and Venezuela started to phase them out in 2005. We dont need rocket science to solve our myraids of problems, just a little modifications of our old ways could help.