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Australia will be the first country to ban energy hungry yellow incandescent bulbs and replace them with energy efficient compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) in the next three years. According to Australian environment minister, this move would cut the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 4 million tonnes by 2012. A similar idea to promote energy efficient bulbs was proposed in the US state of California last month. Cuba launched a campaign two years ago to replace incandescent bulbs in the country with energy saving lamps and Venezuela has been replacing the bulbs and installing photovoltaic systems for the past few months.

Why fluorescent?

Incandescent bulbs waste about 95% of the power consumed as heat emission and convert only 5% as light energy, while fluorescent lamps convert 20% of the power consumed as light. Incandescent bulbs typically have a lifetime of 500 to 2000 hours while CFLs can last upto 8000 hours. CFLs use about a quarter of the power of incandescent bulbs. For example, a 15 watt CFL produces the same amount of light as a 60 watt incandescent bulb. We have been replacing incandescent bulbs in my house with CFLs for the past year, and the results are impressive — it has cut electricity bills upto 30%. More importantly, using fluorescent lamps and CFLs would mean 70% cut in emission of green house gases (CO₂) and thus, environmental friendly.

On the flip side, CFLs contain traces of mercury and can be a cause of pollution when disposed in large quantities. One solution is recycling, but for now at least, advantages of CFLs outweigh the disadvantages. Looking forward into the future, one potentially more efficient alternative could be LED based lamps (solid-state lighting).

Related links

• Complact fluorescent lamp
• Australia to change ligntbulbs to curb warming
• Plan to ban standard light bulbs in California
• Venezuela installs solar panels
• Why ban bulbs?
• City tries to cut energy bills with LEDs

Update: Greenpeace India has urged the Indian Government to ban incandescent light bulbs and advocate use of energy-efficient compact fluorescent lamps.

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