EU to ban incandescent light bulbs by 2012

The European Commission unveiled fix dates for its plan to gradually ban traditional incandescent light bulbs. The ban is designed to push consumers towards more energy-efficient forms of lighting such as the compact fluorescent lamp (CFL), halogen and LED.

Starting from September 2009, 100W incandescent light bulbs will be phased out, 75W light bulbs will disappear in September 2010 and 60W bulbs in September 2011. The remaining two types, of 25W and 40W, will be banned in September 2012. Furthermore, the EU also considers to ban less-efficient halogen lights by 2016.

The restriction is part of the EU's plan to improve energy efficiency by 20 percent in 2020. Experts estimate a ban on traditional light bulbs will save 40 terawatt hour (TWh) per year, roughly the power consumption of a country like Romania.

Even though more efficient forms of lighting are more expensive than incandescent bulbs, the plan is expected to save each European family between 25 and 50EUR per year. For the entire European Union the savings will be between 5 and 10 billion euro, while lowering CO2 emissions by 15 million tons.