Australia Announces Plans to Do Away with Incandescent Light Bulbs

Australia's Environmental Minister Tuesday announced that the country will attempt to phase out the use of incandescent light bulbs over the course of the next three years. In his statement he claimed that Australia will use both persuasion and regulation to convince citizens to make the switch.

The New York Times reported Minister Turnbull as saying, "The most effective and immediate way we can reduce greenhouse-gas emissions is by using energy more efficiently. Electric lighting is a vital part of our lives; globally, it generates emissions equal to 70 percent of those from all the world's passenger vehicles."

Australia has long led the movement to make household appliances and electrical equipment more efficient, imposing regulations that limit the energy use of household appliances. The light bulb switch over will be a slow yet steady change as the regulations tighten until it will be nearly impossible to purchase the standard incandescent bulbs. Some exceptions will be made however for medical and heating lights where fluorescent bulbs are not feasible.

The Australian plan will likely eliminate the use of all electric light bulbs by 2015, reducing their greenhouse gas output by up to 4 million tons. The amount of contamination from electric lighting in the world is equal to almost 70% of all passenger vehicles.

The incandescent bulb itself is the original invention of Thomas Edison, a simple and inexpensive manner of producing light in which electricity is forced through a wire filament which then glows. However, the technology is long since outdated, wasting nearly 90% of all the energy it consumes.

The fluorescent bulbs that will replace Australia's electric lighting are nearly 20% more energy efficient and operate by running an electric current through a gas which then emits light. The bulbs cost significantly more to produce, but last much longer as well, nearly 5-10 years.

The fluorescent bulb's cost though as well as the need to properly dispose of them has made them slightly less popular in most sectors, with the exception of the business sector in which the cost is significantly less on a grand scale. For homes however, electric bulbs outsell the fluorescent nearly 5 to 1, regardless of the manufacturer's attempts to make them less bright and softer.

Similar legislation has been proposed in the United States in the past, mostly on the state level, with California leading the way, with a bill proposed just this last session. Federally, the concept has yet to catch on though.

Sources: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/20/world/asia/20cnd-light.html, http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?feed=AP&Date=20070220&ID=6505947