Europe has banned halogen lights from 1st September 2018, encouraging consumers to switch over to more energy efficient LED bulbs. This step is taken in order to reduce the carbon footprints produced by these bulbs.
Phasing out inefficient lamps will “save 15.2 million tons of CO² emissions by 2025,” said Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, European Commission spokeswoman for climate action and energy. She also said that “this is the equivalent to the emissions generated by around 2 million people per year. This is a significant contribution to the fight against climate change.”
The retailers are no longer permitted to stock halogen light bulbs and have to replace them with LED and CFL bulbs. The bulbs will be slowly eliminated with people expected to switch from the halogen light bulbs to LEDs as soon as the functional bulbs expire.
Companies manufacturing Halogen Bulbs are allowed to sell these until they ran out of it. Europe first began phasing out incandescent light bulbs in 2009. This then followed with a ban on directional mains-voltage halogen bulbs in 2016. The ban will bring electricity savings across Europe up to 93 TW every year by 2020, equal to the amount of energy Portugal consumes each year.
“Our proposals should lead to further substantial cumulative savings and added value for Europe’s citizens and industry, and contribute to enhancing the circular economy and fight against climate change,” said Itkonen.
