Ireland is banning the bulb, why can't we?

Posted by jamie — 14 December 2007 at 2:40pm - Comments

After last week's amazing news that Ireland is going to ban inefficient light bulbs in early 2009, we thought it was time to give our own government a squeeze on the issue. The speed at which our neighbour across the Irish Sea will be ditching incandescent bulbs has shown just how ineffective London has been so far.

Not only does Ireland now join the likes of Australia, Venezuela and Cuba who have already laid down bulb legislation, it also proves our own government is dragging its feet. Earlier this year, a voluntary phase-out of inefficient bulbs by the end of 2011 was announced which even at the time was pretty rubbish. Thousands of small retailers aren't covered by the scheme so incandescent bulbs will still be on sale beyond that date. Ireland's tough new legislation now makes this initiative look even more feeble.

If you think we can do much better in this country, write to Joan Ruddock MP at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) - as parliamentary under-secretary with special responsibility for climate change, she has a big say in putting forward legislation.

It's not just the government that's being obstructive - manufacturers are also taking their own sweet time. The European Lamp Companies Federation, representing giants such as General Electric (GE) and Philips, has laid out plans for getting rid of all energy-wasting bulbs sometime after 2017 (pdf). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said that greenhouse gas emissions need to peak by 2015 at the latest, so this is just far, far too late.

Our government has produced plenty of impressive rhetoric about being a world leader in tackling climate change: in his recent speech, Gordon Brown talked of 80 per cent cuts in emissions by 2050. Great, but that isn't going to happen unless his government starts making tough decisions on energy production and efficiency now. Taking inefficient light bulbs out of circulation is the thin end of the wedge for introducing minimum energy efficiency standards across the board.

So before you head off for Christmas, please write to Joan Ruddock - it will only take a couple of minutes - and hopefully we'll be following in Ireland's footsteps very soon.

Article tagged as: climate change, energy efficiency, light bulbs, take action, what you can do
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Hi barabas

The pollution problem first: while incandescents end up in landfills, CFLs can be recycled - the Waste Electric and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) directive compels retailers and manufacturers to safely recycle and dispose of old electrical products, and this includes CFLs. You're right, it's not a coherent recycling strategy yet (as far as I know, only Ikea complies with the directive at the moment), and that needs to change. There's more on that here.

On the usefulness of changing bulbs: changing all incandescents in the UK to CFLs could save over five million tonnes worth of CO2 just on its own, but it's worth noting that our bulbs campaign is part of a much a wider (EU-level) campaign for minimum efficiency standards on all energy-using appliances, by law.

Which brings us to the bigger questions you raise: "let's legislate" vs personal responsibility.

Yes, individuals absolutely need to change - but, so do the electricity and heat generation processes, and the efficiency standards of energy-using appliances. From my point of view, the wholesale energy revolution we so urgently need ("100 months to save the climate" etc) requires urgent government action too.

Cheers,

Bex
gpuk

By bex - 18 December 2007 at 6:05pm

Cheers for that - and yep, probably a fair point that environmentalists don't necessarily think enough about the psychology of the decision-makers we're trying to influence.

On the competitive mind-set though, I think you can use that to your advantage, by playing companies off each other. (Our league tables - eg bulbs, seafood and electronics - often seem to have pretty good results).

Cheers,

Bex
gpuk

By bex - 18 December 2007 at 6:09pm

Hi barabas The pollution problem first: while incandescents end up in landfills, CFLs can be recycled - the Waste Electric and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) directive compels retailers and manufacturers to safely recycle and dispose of old electrical products, and this includes CFLs. You're right, it's not a coherent recycling strategy yet (as far as I know, only Ikea complies with the directive at the moment), and that needs to change. There's more on that here. On the usefulness of changing bulbs: changing all incandescents in the UK to CFLs could save over five million tonnes worth of CO2 just on its own, but it's worth noting that our bulbs campaign is part of a much a wider (EU-level) campaign for minimum efficiency standards on all energy-using appliances, by law. Which brings us to the bigger questions you raise: "let's legislate" vs personal responsibility. Yes, individuals absolutely need to change - but, so do the electricity and heat generation processes, and the efficiency standards of energy-using appliances. From my point of view, the wholesale energy revolution we so urgently need ("100 months to save the climate" etc) requires urgent government action too. Cheers, Bex gpuk

By bex - 18 December 2007 at 6:05pm

Cheers for that - and yep, probably a fair point that environmentalists don't necessarily think enough about the psychology of the decision-makers we're trying to influence. On the competitive mind-set though, I think you can use that to your advantage, by playing companies off each other. (Our league tables - eg bulbs, seafood and electronics - often seem to have pretty good results). Cheers, Bex gpuk

By bex - 18 December 2007 at 6:09pm

About Jamie

I'm a forests campaigner working mainly on Indonesia. My personal mumblings can be found @shrinkydinky.

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