Lightbulbs

Lighting consume as much as 340 TWh of electricity per year in Europe (equivalent to the residential consumption of France, UK and Italy combined). Without policies, it would grow by another 100 TWh by 2020.However, a lighting revolution could be on the way. With LED technologies coming to the market, the old concept of inefficient lightbulbs to change every year or so is over. Lighting will be directly built in walls and furniture and last for decades. This is a completely different approach and business model for manufacturers. This revolution can drive crucial energy savings and environmental benefits, but it needs to be sped up through supporting policies.

What does the Coolproducts campaign want?
•    A ban of incandescent and halogen bulbs as soon as 2012.
•    Some strict rules on the environmental performance of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), which are a bridging solution.
•    A massive support to LED (light emitting diodes) so that they become mainstream in 2015.

What is the European Union doing and what is our position?
After long discussions, the EU has adopted ecodesign regulations on domestic, office and street lighting in 2009. The concept of banning incandescent lamps from the market has been secured, but too many alternatives have been left (such as so-called ‘eco classic halogens’). This will only save 25% of the electricity consumption of the sector. Moreover, we consider the quality standards on fluorescent lamps to be insufficient, since they do not address the toxic content and electromagnetic waves.
A pending regulation on directional lighting will be discussed in 2010 and is supposed to promote LEDs. But we are not sure it will be stringent enough to launch the lighting revolution we need.

Further reading:

-Find out more about the EU process on our expert pages.

-Our press release reacting to the EU implementing measure on domestic lighting

-Memo on the lightbulb ban in 22 languages