Sometimes you find things where you least expect them. Take this forthcoming shop. You might expect the picture to come from the new Westfield shopping centre in Shepherd’s Bush. Or maybe Bluewater? Well, it wasn’t either of those. I took this picture in a shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I have to say that this was one of the last places I would expect to find the Megaman brand - which provides about 80% of the bulbs in my London flat, including some impressive dimming compact fluorescent bulbs. Malaysia is far from being an eco-friendly country, and few people, if any, really talk about climate change as an issue at the moment. That said, Malaysians and other people in emerging countries have different concerns from us.
I know a lot of people in Malaysia that use fluorescent lighting at home, yet I hadn’t really thought about it until I saw the store. Shortly after, I noticed that Osram had a big LED factory in Malaysia too. People in Malaysia just don’t seem to mind using fluorescents - unlike here in the UK, where people often complain about the harsh white light of the older lamps (you can now get warmer light from CFLs). Why this might be, I can’t say for sure, but developing/emerging countries think about certain things differently - maybe it’s as simple as thinking of light as a utility rather than a luxury.
I’ve not done any research, but I’m guessing that the cost of energy saving bulbs is lower in Malaysia, because they either ship from countries nearby, or are made at home, making them more appealing to bargain-loving Malaysians. I’m sure the main reason people use them there is for saving money rather than environmental reasons. So maybe that’s all there is to it - people just don’t mind, and it works out cheaper for electricity bills.
I was a little intrigued that Megaman was in Malaysia, so I did a bit of research and found that they have a number of concept stores - and they’re all in Asia. They’re in places like China, Indonesia, Singapore and Hong Kong. I guess we’ll have to wait for one at the Westfield.
