Restriction on the sale of incandescent bulbs is put into effect across most of European countries in an effort to conserve energy and decrease global warming impact. Upgrading the lamps could reduce a household’s total electricity consumption by approximately 10-15% and save around EUR50 per year.
However, the Commission has accepted that the energy saving light bulbs are not equally luminescent compared to their traditional counterparts and claims about their light productioncapacity are also beyond proportion.
Inefficient transparent lamps will be phased out, starting with the highest wattage, in 2009. Through this move the EU citizens are expected to save around 40TWh and reduce CO2 emission by approximately 15 million tons per year. The regulation is expected to reinject around EUR5-10 billion into the EU economy. The energy efficient lightbulbs use up to 80% less energy.
