Australia bans incandescent light bulbs with three-year phase-out

Thursday, May 10, 2007 by: M. T. Whitney
Tags: incandescent lighting, incandescent bulbs, light bulbs

(NewsTarget) Australia has banned incandescent light bulbs, starting in 2009. The country down under, looking to reduce its environmental footprint, raised its energy standards for 2009, making the old style of light bulb too inefficient to be sold in the country.

Jump directly to: conventional view | alternative view | resources | bottom line

What you need to know - Conventional View

• The move should promote the transition to fluorescent lighting in Australia.

• Banning incandescent bulbs would help trim 800,000 tons of emissions from Australia by 2012, according to Malcolm Turnbull, Australian environment minister.

• Fluorescent bulbs use only 20 percent of the energy that an incandescent bulb uses, meaning Australian household energy costs would be lessened by two-thirds with the new plan.

• LED lights use even less: only 1/10th the energy of incandescent bulbs, even while producing the same amount of light.

• The basic technology for incandescent bulbs is 125 years old.

• Australian environmentalists say the move is a minor step in the right direction, criticizing that most of Australia's emissions come from industry.

• Other countries that have sought to ban incandescent light bulbs include Cuba and Venezuela, both of which have implemented target dates to ban their sale.

• Great Britain and California also have looked into legislation to ban the less-efficient style of light bulb.

What you need to know - Alternative View

Statements and opinions by Mike Adams
• Incandescent lights are obsolete. But fluorescent lights contain toxic levels of mercury that pose a serious risk of harm to the environment. The most environmentally friendly and cost-effective lights are LED lights, which use far less electricity than any other type of light. (Full disclosure: I am the founder of www.EcoLEDs.com, a company that supports green living and reduced CO2 emissions through the promotion of energy-efficient LED lights.)

• A mass transition to fluorescent lights will only result in an environmental crisis as mercury-laden fluorescent bulbs are dumped in landfills where their mercury can seep into groundwater supplies. Fluorescent lights also burn out quickly (often in 1,000 hours), whereas LED lights will last 50,000 to 100,000 hours (a lifetime, for many applications).

• Inefficient lighting consumes enormous amounts of energy that is essentially wasted. Reducing CO2 emissions will require every advanced nation to eventually ban incandescent lights.

Resources you need to know

• Find LED lights at EcoLEDs.com

• Fluorescent lights can be purchased at practically any mainstream retailer.

Bottom line

Inefficient incandescent light bulbs - soon to be banned in Australia - are on their way out in favor of fluorescent lighting and LED lights.