BEIJING, May 14 (Xinhua) -- China has ordered provincial governments to replace 50 million traditional incandescent lamps with heavily-subsidized energy-efficient lights this year.

    In a circular published on its website on Wednesday, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) set a three-million target for each of the following provincial areas: Hebei, Shanxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, Henan and Guangdong. Beijing, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guizhou and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region each has target of 2 million.

    It is part of a campaign to promote the use of 150 million energy efficient light bulbs over the five years through 2010, launched by the Ministry of Finance and the NDRC in January.

    The government would offer a 30-percent subsidy on wholesale purchases and 50 percent on retail sales.

    Hua Shuming, director of China National Lighting Test Center (BEIJING), said China produced at least 80 percent of the world's energy-efficient light bulbs, with 2.4 billion bulbs made in 2006, compared with only 200 million in 1997.

    Experts said China would save 60 billion kilowatt hours of power each year, or 22 million tonnes of coal equivalent each year if all its incandescent lamps were replaced with energy savers, reducing emission of carbon dioxide by 60 million tonnes.