Brussels - After 120 years of honoured service, the incandescent light bulb is being phased out in Europe and replaced by energy-efficient alternatives that could save the average household up to €50 (about R557,31) per year.
As of Tuesday, the manufacture or import of conventional transparent, 100 watt, bulbs was to be banned within the European Union, with shops only allowed to sell old stocks.
Lower wattage incandescent bulbs are to be progressively phased out over the course of the next three years, to be replaced by halogen, fluorescent or light-emitting diodes (LED) lamps.
EU officials say the switch will eventually produce savings equivalent to the energy consumption of 11 million households.
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First commercialised in 1879 by Thomas Edison, the incandescent light bulb is highly inefficient, with 90 per cent of its energy consumption being converted to heat.
The bulbs are also dangerously hot to touch and have an average lifetime of just one year.
Halogen lights with xenon filling, by contrast, use about 25 percent less energy and last twice as long.
Compact fluorescent lamps, which are already commonly found in shops, are even more energy efficient and last up to 15 times longer.
And LEDs capable of delivering energy savings of 80 per cent are expected to become widely available over the coming years.
While energy-efficient light bulbs are still at least twice more expensive than traditional light bulbs, EU officials say the price gap is shrinking.
In any case, the average savings to consumers envisaged by the European Commission already take such price differences into account.
The phasing out of incandescent light bulbs is already under way in Australia and has already been completed in Cuba. - Sapa-dpa
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