Energy Mad signs big Asian deal

New Zealand company Energy Mad has signed a contract to sell one million of its energy-saving lightbulbs to an undisclosed country in Asia.

Co-founder and director Tom Mackenzie said the deal, worth more than $7 million, was part of the Kyoto Protocol's clean development mechanism, which allowed developed countries to do projects in developing nations.

Mackenzie said he could not mention which country the deal was with because of confidentiality agreements in place.

"It's a big deal for us. It's certainly the largest deal that we have secured to date. We've been working on it for a long time."

Energy Mad has partnered with a major electricity utility and a worldwide accountancy firm to conduct the project, which was based on the same model it used in New Zealand.

It has sold more than 3.5m of its Ecobulbs to New Zealand households following joint projects with a number of different groups including Shell and the Electricity Commission. The joint projects enabled people to buy the Ecobulbs at a discounted price.

The Asian deal was a pilot project and could see Energy Mad selling up to 10m Ecobulbs in that country, Mackenzie said.

He hoped the project would lead to more in other developing countries in the next six months.

"There are a lot of countries around Asia where we can do these types of programmes. We have known this, but it just takes a long time to bring it to fruition."

Energy Mad also announced yesterday it had sold 1000 carbon credits via the Australian Climate Exchange to the Sydney-based Carbon Reduction Institute.

He would not say how much that deal was worth to Energy Mad.

- © Fairfax NZ News