Energy saving light bulbs to be pushed by the world?s top producers

The federation estimates that if Europe were to make the switch from incandescent light bulbs which have traditional been used to more efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs, Europe as a whole would need 27 fewer power plants. Governments have often been at the forefront of pushing these more energy efficient light bulbs with recent examples being

Venezuela

and

South Africa

. There has however been criticism in the past as the free hand out of the more expensive CFLs has not been sustainable. The concerns are mainly over what would happen when the first generation of bulbs broke and consumers could not see or afford the economics of the traditionally more expensive CFLs.

CLFs are 3 times as energy efficient as traditional light bulbs and have a much longer life span, this means big savings for consumers over the life of a light bulb. However there is an upfront investment involved in the higher purchase price. The Federation has looked at different methods of increasing sales including governmental subsidies. The State of Maine in the USA has for example offered $1.50 coupons towards the purchase of these bulbs and has as a result recently sold the millionth CFL. This is an impressive result for a state which has a population of 1.27 million.

The results for the state of Maine are equivalent to saving more then $46 million USD in electricity costs or taking 33,000 cars off the road a year which represents 194,000 tons of CO2 savings. Australia as a nation is looking to ban the older incandescent bulbs and some governments such as the State of California or the province of Ontario may also follow suit.