Wednesday, 2nd September 2009
Energy saving bulbs to light homes in the EU
You will probably have noticed that the nights are getting darker and many of us are putting our lights on even earlier in the evenings in order to finish that exciting book chapter or perhaps to watch our favourite TV programme.
But many of you will be interested to know that soon it will be an energy saving bulb that lights up your home.
The European Union has passed a Directive to phase out the use of incandescent or traditional light bulbs in a bid to ensure energy efficiency and meet climate change targets.
Come next week (1st September 2009) retail stocks of conventional light bulbs will not be replenished. All traditional light bulbs (100 and 60 watt ‘pearl’ bulbs), as well as more specialised bulbs including 25 watt and 40 watt which are shaped like candles or golf balls, that you have previously bought in retail stores, will be replaced by more energy efficient light bulbs.
Currently, around 80 per cent of bulbs sold in UK stores are high-energy bulbs, despite the fact that energy saving bulbs last 12 times longer.
By phasing out these inefficient bulbs, consumers will be forced to use energy saving light bulbs which will have a very welcome impact on the UK’s energy consumption levels.
As a member of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee, this initiative is welcomed and will go some way towards tackling the EU’s Climate Change targets to improve energy efficiency by 20 percent by 2020.
Scotland and the rest of the UK is a year ahead of the other 27 European Member States and will lead the way in showing what a difference the switch over to energy light bulbs can make. The Government estimates that it will slash the UK’s carbon emissions by one million tonnes a year.
And the public will save money by converting to those low energy bulbs. According to the Energy Saving Trust, switching to the new low energy bulbs can save a typical home about £45 a year on electricity bills. In these tough times any opportunity to save money on your household bills is likely to be welcomed.
The initiative has had its critics. People have complained about the cost of low energy light bulbs, ignoring the fact that they last so much longer. There have also been complaints about the brightness and quality of the new low energy bulbs not being of the same standard as the old, incandescent bulbs and that they don’t fit with household furnishings. Yet technology has allowed manufacturers to create a low energy halogen bulb which looks like and gives off the same light as a traditional bulb.
Furthermore, there was a worrying concern that people with highly sensitive skin disorders may face problems as a result of the ban.
A symptom of Lupus, an auto-immune disease which affects 50,000 people in the UK, is light sensitivity. Sunlight exposure or the light from fluorescent and low energy bulbs can cause their skin to blister. The current incandescent bulbs do not have the same adverse affect.
However, it is thanks to a Scottish constituent who alerted me to his health issue that we have successfully achieved a European Commission amendment that allows lupus and migraine suffers the use of a special bulb. This bulb includes halogen built into a ‘normal’ light bulb casing, which does not cause the flickering that affects lupus as well as migraine sufferers, but which will still save energy.
This is an excellent example of the role that Scottish constituents’ play in European issues. I welcome hearing from all constituents on European issues and concerns that affect their daily lives.
