Manufacturers and retailers set up Monday a council for promoting the household use of fluorescent bulbs to save energy and make a contribution toward mitigating global warming. The initiative comes after the government said last month that Japan will try to replace all energy-consuming incandescent bulbs used in office buildings, houses and shops with fluorescent bulbs.

The government has estimated that if all lighting in Japanese homes was replaced by fluorescent bulbs, it could cut carbon dioxide emissions by 2 million tons, or 1.3 percent of all emissions from homes. Fluorescent bulbs consume about only one-fifth the electricity and last 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs, according to industry officials. The council said the industry and retailers will step up their efforts to win the hearts of consumers by improving functions of fluorescent bulbs, as well as light-emitting diode products in the future, and spread the merits of using such energy-saving lights.