Incandescent light bulbs to be phased out by 2012

Inefficient incandescent light bulbs will be phased out by 2012 in terms of regulations adopted today by the European Commission.

The purpose of the regulations is to improve the energy efficiency of household lamps and of office, street and industrial lighting products.

The regulations lay down energy efficiency requirements which will save close to 80 TWh by 2020 (roughly the electricity consumption of Belgium) and will lead to a reduction of about 32 million tons of CO2 emission per year.

Incandescent light bulbs will be progressively replaced by improved alternatives starting this year and finishing at the end of 2012.

As a result of these regulations, €11 billion are expected to be saved and re-injected every year into the European economy.

"By replacing last century lighting products by more performant technologies, European homes, buildings and streets will keep the same quality of lighting, while saving energy, CO2 and money", said Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs.

The regulations progressively remove conventional bulbs and other lighting products from the market in a way that allows manufacturers to adapt their production for efficient alternatives.

Households will still have the choice between long-life compact fluorescent lamps that currently yield the highest energy savings (up to 75% less energy than incandescent lamps), or efficient incandescent lamps (of the halogen type) fully equivalent to conventional bulbs in terms of light quality, providing between 25% and 50% energy savings.