Philips calls for a simple switch to reduce energy consumption

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Amsterdam, The Netherlands (AEX, PHI, NYSE:PHG) – Royal Philips Electronics today announced its global asimpleswitch.com consumer campaign showing that solutions for reducing energy consumption can be simple and actionable without compromising on quality of life.

By partnering with The Alliance for Climate Protection and the global Live Earth concerts on July 7^th 2007, Philips aims to inspire more than two billion people to take simple steps, such as changing a light bulb, to lead a more energy efficient life. Part of the campaign is a consumer website www.asimpleswitch.com, launched on July 4 2007. Visitors to the Live Earth concerts and the Live Earth and MSN websites will be invited to record a personal ‘simple switch’ pledge either online or via SMS. Philips will track these collective pledges to change to energy efficient lighting and calculate the resulting energy and costs savings on the asimpleswitch.com website.  

“Our asimpleswitch.com program provides the perfect forum to show solutions for efficient energy use and the simple steps that we all can take in order to make a real difference” said Theo van Deursen, member of the Board of Management of Royal Philips Electronics and CEO of Philips Lighting. “At Philips we believe in providing simple solutions for complex problems such as sustainable development. For example, on average our portfolio of energy efficient lighting products can save 40% on electricity, and for some products the cost saving can be up to 80%, without compromising on quality. We believe it is time to act now for everyone and that’s why we offer consumers a wider choice of energy efficient products.”

Philips that introduced the energy saving light bulb back in 1980, has put environmental improvement in their product design at the heart of its business. Philips consumer electronics products such as a number of Philips LCD FlatTVs use technologies that can reduce power consumption by up to 30% compared to competitive products of a similar screen size. Philips also introduced a green logo that allows consumers to easily identify consumer electronic products that have significantly better energy efficiency than the nearest competitor products as well as offering other environmental benefits. In 2006 Philips Green Product range accounted for more than EUR 4 billion turnover (15% of total sales).

“We are thrilled that Philips is supporting Live Earth in our common effort to solve the climate crisis” said Former US Vice President, creator of An Inconvenient Truth and Live Earth spokesperson Al Gore in a message to Philips employees. “Together we can continue to get out the word that there are many simple and accessible solutions that help reduce our energy consumption and cut global warming pollution.”