Freedom's Light Flickers Out
Europe to impose new lightbulb labelling system - Telegraph
By September this year 100W incandescent bulbs will no longer be sold in shops, followed by 60W bulbs in 2011 and all incandescent models by 2012.
As part of the same legislation retailers will be forced to label lightbulbs in Lumens from September 2010.
"Consumers have to be made aware that this is nothing to confuse them but this will actually help them to make the right choice,"
We will ban and legislate so that there is only one choice, the right choice and you will make it, you understand?
Comments
Will it actually be illegal to sell incandescents? From eBay say? For a vast profit? :D
Posted by: Zorro | May 28, 2009 11:38 AM
This actually makes some sense, although its implementation is typically high-handed. The only way to compare the various types of bulb is via luminosity (although perceived brightness of the source itself is more properly measured in candela). FWIW, a 100W incandescent is about 120 Cd, so an isotropic source with this luminous intensity would be emitting 480 π ~ 1500 lm. Bearing in mind that a 1 Cd source at 540 THz is emitting 1/683 W/sr, it does highlight how horribly inefficient incandescents are.
Actually banning incandescents is another matter. CFLs are a transition technology with no more than a five to ten year prospective market before they are superseded by LEDs. In the meantime the costs associated with altering light fixtures etc. will be huge. It is probably a good idea in general to use CFLs in place of incandescents (the cost savings from reduced energy use really are significant) but once again the EU has decided to implement via legislative fiat that which would have been much better left to the market.
Posted by: David Gillies | May 28, 2009 5:23 PM