Efficiency First

Incandescents Going Dark in Europe

E.U. nations grapple with new restrictions on the sale of old-style light bulbs

Starting this week, shops in the European Union will no longer be permitted to buy or import most frosted incandescent light bulbs – the first step in a phased ban on the sale of all incandescent bulbs. According to a recent article in the New York Times, many European consumers are not happy about the switch to compact fluorescents, which use up to 80 percent less electricity than comparable incandescent bulbs. The Times cites a number of common objections to CFLs, including the quality of incandescent light, incompatibility with dimmer switches, and concerns about the health dangers of mercury released when the bulbs break.

Such arguments have already started to reverberate in the United States, where incandescent bulbs are due to be phased out starting in 2012.

Until then, the E.U. is providing the biggest staging ground for both the conversion as well as a debate over trade-offs created by environmental legislation. The issues include the loss of long-standing manufacturing industries, consumer choice and possible exacerbation of other environmental hazards.

The ban is one of a series of measures to support the E.U. goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020. Everything from televisions to washing machines to tiny motors are being made more energy-efficient.

But the light bulb ban has proved singular in the way it has stirred fierce debate. The ubiquity of lighting and the way it can alter the aesthetics of an interior, even the experience of reading a book, makes it somehow more personal.

While clear 60-watt bulbs will remain on the market until at least September 2011 and clear 40-watt bulbs until 2012, the article says, E.U. consumers have been stockpiling incandescent bulbs in anticipation of the ban.

Read the full article here: www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/business/energy-environment/01iht-bulb.html?_r=1&hp

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