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              A campaign to save money and help the environment by using energy efficient light bulbs

Campaign Archive: (Feb 05 to present)

Campaign Goals:

1. Create a deadline for action Ban the sale of incandescents by specific dates Ban 60W + 100W incandescents first (bayonet + screw)
Ban other incandescent designs later
2. Remove the price advantage of incandescents Increase the cost of incandescent light bulbs
Reduce the sales tax (VAT) on CFLs from 17.5% to 5%
3. Help the poor
Help the poor to replace their incandescents  Help the poor to save money on their energy bills
4. Encourage responsible recycling
Encourage the responsible recycling of CFLs Encourage fair + adequate funding for recycling Encourage discussions amongst recycling stakeholders
5. Encourage + strengthen supporting legislation
Include light bulbs in the EU's Eco Directive Explain the pros + cons of the EU's RoHS Directive
6. Propose appriopriate exemptions Make the case for appropriate medical and  specialist exemptions
7. Encourage continued innovation
Propose that technology neutral "watts per lumen"
criteria should be included in ban legislation
Propose "watts per lumen per m2" as further criteria
Highlight promising technologies as they emerge
8. Encourage energy efficiency and conservation
Explain the benefits of greater energy efficiency Explain the benefits of turning things off Accelerate the uptake of available technologies
9. Use LEDs to set energy performance standards
LEDs offer a 90% energy saving CFLs offer a 65-80% energy saving High efficiency incandescents offer a 25% saving Incandescents offer 0% energy saving

Banning incandescent light bulbs would...

Save 2 to 5 Million tonnes of CO2 per year in the UK 
Save 23 to 53 Million tonnes of CO2 per year in the EU 

Global Energy Use:



Thanks to...OilPrice.com

Links:

BBC "Green Room" 3 Feb 06
Light bulbs: Not such a bright idea
Comments

BBC "Green Room" 21 April 06
Shedding light on call to ban bulb
Comments

BBC "Green Room" 20 Oct 06
Where have all the leaders gone? 
Comments

BBC article 29 Jun 06 Lighting the key to energy saving
IEA : Lights Labour Lost report

BBC article 2 Nov 06 Bulbs must be efficient by 2009

BBC "Green Room" 19 Jan 07 The need for ambition + imagination
Stern Review: Summary

Guardian article 1 Feb 07 Should I replace incandescents now?
Worldwatch: Effects of WEEE Directive

BBC article 31 Jan 07 Plan to ban light bulbs... in California

Nine MSN article 20 Feb 07 Plan to ban light bulbs... in Australia

BBC article 20 Feb 07 Australia pulls plug on old bulbs

Courier Mail article 21 Feb 07 See the light Turnbull

EurActiv article 21 Feb 07 How many EU members does it  take to change a light bulb?

Guardian article 22 Feb 07 Should we ban these bulbs?

Scotsman article 24 Feb 07 How many light bulbs does it take
to change the world?

Daily Mail article 10 Mar 07 EU switches off our old light bulbs

BBC "Green Room" 16 July 07 Sex sells, but at what cost?

The Guardian article 27 Sept 07 UK to phase out 150W, 100W + 60W bulbs

The Guardian article 27 Sept 07
Ban The Bulb?


International Light Bulb Campaigns 18 Seconds (US)
Greenpeace India : BTB petition (India)
www.banthebulb.co.uk (UK: unaffiliated)

Campaigns One Watt Initiative (IEA)
One Billion Bulbs (US)
Big Green Switch (UK)

Eco Portal Eco Earth Info (US)

References Homestayfinder: How CFLs work MPs' Letters: EU light bulb rules Wikipedia: Ozone Depletion
EU: Kyoto Protocol
Lighting Industry Federation
>LIF: Lamp Guide 2001 pdf
UK Climate Change Programme
>UK CCP: Review pdf
UK Market Transformation Programme
ECCP Report 2001 pdf
European Lamp Companies Federation
DTI: WEEE Directive
Energy Saving Trust
GE: Soft White Dimmable CFLs
Cubans + Jamaicans hand out free CFLs
ELCFED FAQs 

Lighting Advice
Energy Saving Trust
Lighting
Bulb ratings
Lighting choices 
Low energy fittings
Save Your 20%
Customer Utility Services

Light bulb suppliers
lightbulbs.co.uk  
Just LED  
Direct Trade Supplies 
Light Rabbit  
Light Rabbit : Commercial 
AVR LED Track Lighting 
Bulb Buddy 
Energy Bulb 
Synergy Lighting USA (USA)
Express Light Bulbs 
LED Light Bulbs 
LED Lighting Supplier 
eco LED Light 
E-Leds 
EcoPal (Ireland)  
LED Lights 
LED Tape 
Eco St 
LED Eco Lights 
Light Bulb Planet 
Green Led 
LineLite 
First Light Direct 
Lamps On Line 
UltraLEDS (UK)
LiteBulbs 
Bright Green Technology (signs) 
Eco Friendly Light Bulbs 
Go Green Lights (UK)
Energy Saving World (UK)
Light Bulbs Direct (UK)
Better Generation (UK)
Efficient Light (UK)
Ultima (UK)
Megaman (UK)
Amazon.Com (US)
The Bulbman (US)
LED Online [LEDs] (UK)
OptoSource [LEDs] (UK)
CyberLux [LEDs] (US)
Androv Medical (UK)
BestBulb  (UK)
The Light Bulb (UK)

Solar 
Solar Power Centre (UK)
Intelligent Energy Solutions (UK)
Solar Insiders  (UK)
Solar Gadget Store (UK)
Select Solar Panels (UK)

Energy Saving Advice
Conserve Energy  (UK)
Intelligent Energy Solutions (UK)

Solar Security 
Solar Security Solutions (UK)

Energy Company Advice 
Good Energy Shop (UK)

Home Energy Generation / Storage
Cyber Energy (UK)

Low carbon technology sites
The Solar Centre (UK)

Price comparison sites
Business Electricity Prices (UK)
Business Gas Prices (UK)
USwitch: Business Energy (UK)
Home Advisory Service (UK)
UK Power (UK)
Business Gas  (UK) Business Electricity  (UK)

Solar Price Comparison Services
Talk Solar Panels (UK)
Talk Solar Boilers (UK)
Solar Quote Provider (UK)

Solar Lighting
Lux Outdoor Ligting (UK)
The Eco Experts (UK)
http://www.theecoexperts.co.uk
Light bulb history
An overview
1809 Humphrey Davy (Arc lamp) 1820 Warren De la Rue (vacuum + wire) 1879 Edison and Swan (carbon + cotton) 1880 Edison (carbon + bamboo) 1898 Karl Auer (osmium) 1903 Siemens/Halske (tantalum) 1906 to 10 GEC/William Coolidge (tungsten)
Fluorescent light and lamp history
1857 Becquerel (fluorescence) 1901 Cooper Hewitt (mercury vapour lamp) 1934 Germer (high pressure lamp) 1970s Anderson + Hollister (electrodeless) 1976 Edward Hammer (spiral lamp)
Mercury + Fluorescent Lights
Efficiency Vermont
Michigan Dept. of Env. Quality

Energy Efficiency Advice
EU Energy Label
Refrigeration
Laundry
Dishwashers
Boilers
Insulation + Windows
Find recommended products (UK)

Generate your own energy
General advice
Solar Photovoltaics
Solar water heating
Heat pumps
Small scale wind
Small scale hydro
Biomass

Press coverage
The Guardian 7 Dec 05 
BBC News Online 'Green Room' 3 Feb 06
BBC Radio 4 'Broadcasting House' 5 Feb 06
Austrian Broadcasting Corp. 7 Feb 06
BBC Radio Wales 8 Feb 06
BBC News Online 8 Feb 06
The Hindustan Times  editorial
The Guardian "Campaign O.T.W. " 21 Feb 06
BBC Radio Essex 22 Feb 06

Interesting energy ideas...
Option 10 (UK)
Light Up The World (Can)
TVEC.org  (UK)
Downshifting Path (UK)
Cent. for Alt. Tech. (Wales)
Patio Heaters Are Evil (UK)

NGOs
Friends of the Earth Greenpeace International Natural Resources Defense Council New Economics Foundation WWF

Renewable Energy Businesses
Select Solar
Solar Century

Climate Change
Carbon Trust
Climate Stability 2005
DEFRA
Hadley Centre
IPCC
Met Office
Pew Centre
Tyndall Centre
UK Energy Research Centre
UNFCCC

Reports
National Audit Office > report

Environmental Blogs
Alternative Energy Blog
Dangerousmeta!
Earth Blog
Earth Info
Energy: Action
Envirotech 
George Monbiot
Greenpeace Weblog
Gristmill 
Mark Lynas
Meta Efficient
One Change
Real Climate
Rebecca Blood
Sierra Club Scoop
World Changing
Ethical Expert

© matt prescott

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Thursday, May 26, 2011


US incandescent light bulb ban imminent (2012)
The phasing out of the most wasteful domestic incandescent light bulbs in the US is getting closer. The following EDN article offers a useful summary of the latest news and the LED alternatives that now look feasible for those wanting bright white light and to use dimmer switches, without wasting vast amounts of energy producing unnecessary heat.

Energy-efficient lights to gain from incandescent ban

At A Glance

- The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 dictates phasing out incandescent light bulbs starting in 2012.

- To satisfy consumer demands, energy-efficient lights must also be instant-on, work with currently installed light switches, deliver a warm- to bright-white light, cost-effectively save energy, and have a lifetime of more than 10,000 hours.

Margery Conner, Technical Editor -- EDN, May 26, 2011

The 100-year-long reign of the incandescent light bulb is about to end. Rather than bemoaning its death, lighting-circuit designers would do well to see the opportunity in offering a light with instant-on, that dims without flicker, and that is reliable and cost-effective.

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 dictates the phase-out of the incandescent light bulb starting in 2012 (Reference 1). The bill does not specifically ban incandescent lights: You will still be able to buy any incandescent light that can meet the act’s efficacy specification of a 25% improvement in incandescent-light output. The lights are notoriously poor producers of usable light, however. They lose 96% of the power they use to heat; hence, Hasbro uses them as the heating element in the Easy-Bake toy oven. So far, no one has discovered a cost-effective way of coaxing more light and less heat from incandescent lights.

Nevertheless, both state and national governments, as well as consumers’ preference for saving money in the face of rising energy costs, are signaling the end of the line for common incandescent light bulbs. Herein lies an opportunity for engineers in creating lights that not only replace incandescents but also enhance the home or commercial environment through automatic energy savings and create a pleasant lighting environment.

Lighting technologies such as LED, fluorescent, and halogen are vying to become the new ubiquitous light source. The challenge in the near future is to provide a lighting experience that matches consumers’ expectations for how a light should work. Consumers don’t necessarily want incandescent lights but rather lighting “experiences” that match their expectations—lights that come on instantly; work with currently installed light switches, including TRIAC (triode-alternating-current)-based dimmers; deliver a warm- to bright-white light; cost-effectively save energy, and have lifetimes of more than 10,000 hours.

read more here...

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Posted 6:33 AM by Matt Prescott

Monday, December 24, 2007


President Bush announces US plan to phase out incandescents
President Bush has signed an Energy Bill which will phase-out 100-watt incandescent light bulbs in 2012 and 40-watt incandescent light bulbs by 2014.

All light bulbs must use 25 percent to 30 percent less 2014 (which means that the next generation of "high-efficiency" incandescents will remain permitted) and be 70% more efficient (the same as today's compact fluorescent lamps) by 2020.

The Ban The Bulb campaign is disappointed that it will take the US at least another 12 years to use energy efficient lighting technologies which are already available, and sees this legislation as a missed opportunity to make a 70% cut in energy use within 3-5 years.

The Daily Green has reported the following...

As the global shift toward green continues, Congress has shown they are taking concerns over climate change, pollution and resource use seriously. Can it be said that they're starting to see the light?

Although a recent bid to force electric companies to increase wind and solar power to 15% of total electrical output by 2020 failed, Congress is getting close to passing an energy bill that contains a little-known provision designed to phase out the 125-year-old incandescent light bulb in the next four to 12 years. Instead the future will be lit with next generation energy-efficient lighting, as USA Today reports.

Under the measure, all light bulbs must use 25% to 30% less energy than today's products by 2012 to 2014. The phase-in will start with 100-watt bulbs in 2012 and end with 40-watt bulbs in 2014. By 2020, bulbs must be 70% more efficient.

Compact fluorescent bulbs already meet that 70% efficiency standard. They also last six to 10 times longer than incandescents. Compact fluorescents now cost around $2, vs. about 50 cents for an incandescent. Halogen bulbs, specially designed energy-saving incandescents and the emerging light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

The new rules are expected to save consumers $40 billion in energy and other costs from 2012 to 2030, avoid construction of 14 coal-fired power plants, and cut global-warming emissions by at least 51 million tons of carbon annually, according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.

The move to ban the bulb isn't wholly surprising, given similar announcements by Australia, Canada and Ireland, as well as discussions in the European Union and New Zealand. California legislators have discussed a possible state-wide ban.

Any mandatory changes to consumer behavior is going to rankle some critics. But looking back in history, most become widely accepted and appreciated in time for their wide benefits to society. Think of leaded gasoline, radium dinner plates, mercury thermometers, seat belts and child-proof containers. A few decades from now, people may look back on incandescent light bulbs as relics so inefficient that they are dangerous.

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Posted 4:59 AM by Matt Prescott

Wednesday, October 03, 2007


US Senate Bill to ban light bulbs introduced
Although it is wonderful to hear that the US Senate is legislating to phase out incandescent light bulbs, it is worrying that so many people are enthusiastic about halogen light bulbs and high efficiency incandescents as a transition technology.

Halogen lights have the potential to offer significant energy efficiency improvements when compared to a single traditional incandescent light bulb (such as when you decide to light a desk with a 20W halogen rather than light a whole room with one or more 100W incandescents), but the sad truth is that halogen spotlights tend to be used in very large numbers to illuminate kitchens and offices to an extremely high level of brightness. As a result, halogens frequently end up greatly increasing the number of watts being used to light each m2 of a room.

High efficiency incandescents offer a 30% energy saving when compared to incandescents, but offer much less than the 75% energy savings that are already possible with equivalent compact fluorescent lamp.

Ban The Bulb welcomes moves to phase out incandescents but thinks that the new minimum standard for energy performance should be technology neutral, but based on the energy savings that are already possible with compact fluorescent lamps, the total amount of energy used to light each m2, and trying to achieve the maximum possible energy savings within 5 years.

A bill has been introduced in the [US] Senate that will require manufacturers to phase out the old style light bulbs and replace them with new types that will give the same level of light and use less energy at the same time. It is estimated that changing to the new more efficient light bulbs will add up to a savings of $6 billion a year in electricity costs. The bill is called The Energy Efficient Lighting for a Brighter Tomorrow Act (S. 2017), it was introduced by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and has broad bi partisan support.

Senator Bingaman states that his bill will give the light bulb manufacturers a reasonable process for them to plan and implement the changes. He further states that we have had the same lighting technology for the past 125 years. When the bill is fully implemented, it will save almost as much energy as all of the Federal appliance standards from 1987 to 2000.

One of the original co-sponsors of the bill, Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) commented on the fact that we have improved on just all of Thomas Edison's inventions, except for the light bulb. This legislation will encourage a new generation of talented inventors to improve on his greatest invention, the only one that has been neglected. He also stated his intention of working with Senator Bingaman to get the bill passed and making sure that the new products are made by Americans.

If the bill is passed into law, they will begin in 2012 and go on through 2014 with phasing out the current 40, 60, 75 and 100 watt incandescent bulbs and replace them by lower wattage bulbs that will be able to produce the same level of light.

By 2014, the bulbs that we have known all our lives will be obsolete. They will be replaced with the products of the new technologies such as LEDS-light emitting diodes-, halogen incandescent bulbs, compact florescent lamps and higher efficiency incandescent bulbs, giving the consumer plenty of different products to choose from.

In technical terms, the new standards for incandescent lighting will save 88 billion kilowatt hours of electricity per year. And because you do replace light bulbs much more often than you do large appliances, the savings from the new bulbs will be realized much sooner than any savings from larger appliances. The new generation bulbs will cost more, but they will last for years, not months like the current ones do. As a result, there will be considerable savings in lighting costs over the long term.

They have already talked to and negotiated with major lighting manufacturers and efficiency advocates. Philips Lighting initiated the negotiations on phasing out inefficient incandescent lamps, and Osram Sylvania and General Electric were actively engaged in the process. Some of the advocates involved in the negotiations are the Alliance to Save Energy, the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Senator Bingaman took a hands on approach and was personally involved in the negotiations at critical point along the way including having meetings with the key participants. The House of Representatives has already passed a similar bill. The House Bill was authored by Congressmen Harman and Upton.

Source: Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources http://energy.senate.gov/



Thanks to Antony Froggatt for passing on this news article

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Posted 4:11 AM by Matt Prescott

Tuesday, September 25, 2007


China and the US moving towards light bulb bans?
According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, both China and the US are moving towards bans of domestic incandescent light bulbs...

This is great news, but as you will see below their are reasons to be concerned that the lighting industry will be left to determine what the new minimum energy performance standards of domestic light bulbs should be and how long should be allowed for everyone to stop using incandescent light bulbs.

Ban The Bulb feels the minimum energy performance standards should:

(1) Be the same or better than today's compact fluorescent lamps and

(2) That no more than 5 years should be allowed before 100W and 60W incandescents are phased out.

The House and Senate are working on legislation that over the next seven years would phase out the conventional light bulb, a move aimed at saving energy and reducing man-made emissions believed linked to climate change.

General Electric Co., Philips Electronics NV of the Netherlands and other manufacturers have been meeting with conservation and environmental groups and say they are close to agreement on the general terms of a phaseout. Bipartisan coalitions in Congress are likely to add these terms to a broad energy bill expected to be voted on next month.

While manufacturers voiced some concerns about producing enough bulbs to meet the new deadlines, they emphasized that they want prompt federal legislation that would prevent states from setting their own standards, creating a patchwork of differing requirements. Nevada has already set its own standard, and California is considering one.


Paul Waide, a policy analyst with the International Energy Agency, based in Paris, told the Senate Energy Committee yesterday that the European Union, Canada and Australia are planning similar phaseouts of conventional incandescent bulbs, and China is beginning to consider one.

"It is not inconceivable that over the next 10 to 15 years that maybe all incandescent lights will be removed from the global market," he said. If that happened, he added, the resulting reduction in carbon-dioxide emissions might equal almost three-fourths of the reductions that industrial nations have promised under the Kyoto Protocol to curb global warming.

The U.S., which has four billion electric lights using such bulbs, represents about a third of the world market. Installing more-efficient incandescent or compact fluorescent bulbs would save consumers about $6 billion a year in energy costs, said Jeffrey Harris, a vice president of the Alliance to Save Energy, a nonprofit group based in Washington.

Common incandescent bulbs, which have been around for more than 100 years, are able to convert only 5% of the electricity they use into visible light. The rest is lost as heat.

Under the timetable proposed in both House and Senate versions, incandescent bulbs would begin to disappear from U.S. markets beginning in 2012, with 100-watt bulbs going first, then 75-watt bulbs a year later and then the more popular 60- and 40-watt bulbs by 2014.

They would be replaced by compact fluorescent bulbs and more-efficient incandescent lamps, which can cut energy use from 30% to 75%. By 2020, both bills call for lighting standards that can only be met by the compact fluorescents or other technologies that can match their efficiency.

Manufacturers hope to use a few different technologies to meet the proposed standards, but they say it will be a challenge getting new lamps out by 2012, the proposed starting date. The manufacturers also had initially been looking for a longer phaseout period of five years instead of three.

Randy Moorehead, vice president of government relations for Philips Electronics, North America, said the industry mostly supports the phase-in period but has problems with the 2020 proposed standards. Mr. Moorehead said Congress should wait to set a 2020 standard to see where the technology is headed. He said manufacturers will have to scrap new multimillion-dollar investments in equipment and employees to meet 2012 standards.

GE had announced a new energy-efficient incandescent lamp that will be 30% more efficient by 2012. GE plans to roll out the first version in 2010. GE indicated the bulb would likely be comparable to a 60-watt or 40-watt bulb. Osram Sylvania, a unit of Siemens AG, is also introducing an energy-efficient incandescent bulb.

Philips is unveiling a halogen light this fall that will be markedly more efficient and three times longer-lasting than incandescent bulbs -- but will also be more expensive initially than compact and incandescent bulbs.

GE and the two other big light bulb makers, Philips and Osram Sylvania, also are looking at light emitting diodes, or LEDS, as new sources of residential lighting. "We'll certainly fill in any gaps with other technologies," says Earl Jones, senior counsel for GE's consumer-and-industrial unit.

Nearly all compact fluorescent bulbs are made in China. Although they cost more than conventional bulbs, the energy savings over their longer lifetimes are substantial. Noting that only 10% of bulbs sold in the U.S. are compact fluorescents, Kyle Pitsor, vice president of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, said the industry will mount a public-education campaign to push the more efficient bulbs.

BTB is deeply concerned that some of the world's biggest light bulb manufacturers, such as Philips and GE, are lobbying to be allowed to sell the next generation of incandescent light bulbs, which use 30% less electricity that today's models, and are not focusing their efforts on scaling up the production of compacts fluorescent lamps which already offer 75% energy savings.

The motives for this move remain unclear. However, it seems crazy to halve the effectiveness of the world's proposed light bulb bans, for no apparent reason, and BTB hopes that all of the big manufacturers will consider refocusing their efforts on bringing more compact fluorescent lamps to market and developing new technologies, such as LEDs and ceramic lighting technologies, which will significantly improve on what is already possible with CFLs.

Ban The Bulb supports measures which are technology neutral, and is not opposed to incandescents on principle, but is not prepared to endorse minimum standards which encourage the unnecessary waste of money, energy and carbon and delay changes which are already feasible.

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Posted 12:00 PM by Matt Prescott

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