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Green groups celebrate, but warn over lack of information

Brussels, 1 September 2009 – The “Coolproducts for a Cool Planet” NGO coalition [1] welcomes the beginning of the phase-out process for incandescent lightbulbs [2], which starts today in all EU countries for lamps above 100W and ends in 2012 with lower wattage lamps. Incandescent lightbulbs are the least efficient way to produce light. Banning them is expected to reduce annual CO2 emissions by 16 million tonnes in 2020, which equals the emissions of 5 million passenger cars. The ban was decided by the European Union in 2009 under the Ecodesign of Energy-Using Products Directive.

“The European Union is right in its efforts to remove climate-killer products from the shelves. Such measures must be on top of the list of any robust and clever climate and energy policy.” explains Edouard Toulouse from ECOS. “But consumer information and quality requirements have to be improved on alternative lamps, to avoid confusion and irritations.”

The EU ban of incandescent lightbulbs is overly supported by the NGO coalition for its impact on CO2 emissions, but also criticised for not doing enough to reduce the toxic content and electromagnetic radiations of the current energy-saving lamps. Lamp packaging should also be improved and harmonised, to help consumers choose the right products and understand how to dispose of them properly at end of life. Lamps based on LED (light emitting diodes) are the most ecological option, and thus should be better promoted [3].

“We need additional steps on the road to energy efficient, safe and ecological lighting”, adds Elena Lymberidi-Settimo from EEB’s Zero Mercury Campaign. “For instance, the mercury content in the currently used compact fluorescent lamps should be lowered as much as possible (2mg per lamp), and recycling rates should be improved.”

The “Coolproducts for a Cool Planet” NGO coalition also warns that this measure on lightbulbs – despite being iconic – will not be enough to solve the climate crisis. Other products, especially heating and cooling equipment for buildings (boilers, water heaters, air-conditioners), have to be tackled rapidly and ambitiously. Ecodesign measures for those products could cut Europe’s CO2 emissions annually by 230 million tons by 2020, 14 times more than the ban of inefficient lightbulbs.

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