Greenpeace today congratulated the high street chain Woolworths after the group announced that power crazy, incandescent light bulbs would not be available in its stores by the end of 2010. From that date only highly efficient, compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs will be on sale.

The Woolworths announcement puts the chain significantly ahead of a recently announced Government voluntary initiative, which would see major retailers remove all incandescent lightbulbs only by December 2011. A Greenpeace league table also shows that Woolworths are now ahead of many of their competitors - see www.greenpeace.org.uk/bulbsleaguetable.

Louise Molloy, climate campaigner at Greenpeace, said: "It's great news that Woolworths have taken the decision to stop selling power crazy lightbulbs by 2010. At the beginning of our campaign, Woolworths clearly emerged as the least progressive retailer on this issue. This decision now positions them with the leaders of the pack. However, we do need to do more. The retail industry must lobby the government for a mandatory phase out of incandescent bulbs - a voluntary agreement just won't be enough to ensure these power crazy bulbs become a thing of the past."

Woolworths has been the subject of an ongoing campaign, orchestrated by Greenpeace, which culminated in the delivery of thousands of signatures to Woolworth's head office last month. In July, Greenpeace volunteers around the country "seized the light" and removed bulbs from store shelves in major cities including Cardiff, Birmingham, Southampton, Leeds, London, Manchester and Edinburgh. Photos of this action are available from the Greenpeace press office.

Greenpeace has been urging Woolworths to "ban the bulb" since the beginning of the year. Old fashioned, incandescent lightbulbs waste 95 per cent of the energy that they use as heat. If every UK retailer was to stop selling incandescent bulbs we would save enough energy to close an entire large power station.

NOTES TO EDITORS

In a letter to Greenpeace, Woolworths recently announced that they "will not be selling incandescent light bulbs by the end of 2010. We will stop replenishing stock of incandescent light bulbs in 2010 to meet this pledge and as such sales in 2010 will be very low."

A 20-watt CFL gives as much light as a 100-watt conventional bulb, lasts up to 12 times longer, and will save consumers around £9 a year per bulb in electricity costs.

For more information please contact the Greenpeace Press office on 0207 865 8255.

Greenpeace today responded to a government initiative - which aims to remove a large portion of power crazy, incandescent light bulbs from sale by the end of 2011 - by demanding tougher action. While welcoming the fact that only compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) will be on sale at many major retail outlets across the UK from 2011, most major retailers, after a campaign by Greenpeace, have already promised to beat that date.

The voluntary agreement, announced by the Secretary of State for the Environment, Hilary Benn, would see a gradual phase out of the old fashioned bulbs from January next year, culminating in all incandescent bulbs being removed from the stores signing the agreement by the end of December 2011.

Responding to the news John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK said:

"This initiative, which will reduce the UK's CO2 emissions and finally begin to consign these hugely energy wasteful bulbs to the history books, is long overdue. However, almost all of the retailers involved have already committed to removing these bulbs ahead of 2011 after a campaign by Greenpeace. We think the government needs to go further and introduce tough mandatory efficiency standards rather than relying on weak voluntary initiatives. For every year of delay in getting rid of these bulbs, five million tonnes of C02 are emitted into the atmosphere, unnecessarily."

If all retailers were to remove incandescent light bulbs from sale the UK would save enough energy to shut down an entire large power station. Put another way, the move will negate the equivalent emissions of the 26 lowest emitting countries combined. (1)

A Greenpeace campaign to persuade retailers to remove incandescent bulbs has recently seen the high street chain Woolworths agree to stop selling the bulbs by the end of 2010. CEO Trevor Bish Jones announced the move today, after a series of protests at stores around the country by Greenpeace activists. Images of these protests are available from the Greenpeace press office.

A light bulb league table, showing the current relative positions of all major UK retailers, can be seen at www.greenpeace.org.uk/bulbsleaguetable.

John Sauven continued: "Energy efficiency is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to tackle climate change. If we are to see the step change in energy usage that is needed, this initiative must become the first in a series of mandatory bans which force the retail sector to stop selling wasteful electrical products. The UK Government should be leading the way in reducing emissions and not waiting for either the retail sector or the EU before acting."

NOTES TO EDITORS

The government's voluntary commitment is weak in comparison with other initiatives around the world, including Australia's, which is aiming for full enforcement of new lighting standards legislation by 2009 to 2010 - see www.greenhouse.gov.au/energy/cfls/index.html for details. Australia's is a mandatory, rather than voluntary, initiative.

Incandescent light bulbs, which use a tungsten filament to produce light, waste 95 per cent of the energy they use as heat. They were invented in the 1880s. They have been on the market for 125 years.

Each energy saving bulb saves consumers up to £9 per year. The average household can reduce its electricity bills by £50 by switching all incandescent light bulbs to CFLs. They have been on the market for 35 years.

[1] The number of household light bulb sockets in the UK as estimated by DEFRA's Market Transformation Programme is 600 million. Of those, 480 million have an incandescent bulb in them. Collectively they consume 14,500 GWh/yr. Using an average electricity mix the CO2 emission factor is 0.43kg/CO2 per Kwh, which means that incandescent bulbs in the UK are responsible for 6.4 million tonnes of CO2 emissions. Replacing them all with CFL's would cut consumption in those sockets by 80%, which equates to a CO2 saving of 5 million tonnes. The CO2 emission of the lowest 26 emitting countries is 5.2 million tons.

For more information, interviews and images please contact the Greenpeace press office on 0207 865 8255.

Greenpeace today staged a protest at the headquarters of Woolworths PLC in central London as part of a campaign to get the retailer to get power crazy incandescent light bulbs off the shelves by 2008. The action was timed to coincide with the release of the group's half yearly results.

Volunteers delivered thousands of signatures written on flags and formed a colonnade which staff passed under to reach their offices, while holding a banner reading "Customers tell Woolworths - shelve old bulbs now". Office workers were handed free compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs as gifts and urged to bring up the topic with their managers.

The environmental group claims that a recent policy announcement made by Woolworths concerning the phase out of old fashioned, incandescent light bulbs is dangerously weak.

While other retailers have committed to remove all such bulbs from stores as soon as this year, Woolworths have just announced a move which would barely comply with the Government's own voluntary initiative - which would see the bulbs off the shelves by 2012.

In addition, the cheapest compact fluorescent bulb currently on sale at Woolworths is priced at £2.49, while the retailer recently announced that they would be selling an entire bottle of Champagne for £5 - the price of two low energy light bulbs.

For each year that British retailers keep selling incandescent light bulbs, 5 million tonnes of unnecessary Co2 are released into the atmosphere. Put another way, if all UK retailers moved as slowly as Woolworths, the UK would emit 20 million tonnes of Co2 unnecessarily - that's equivalent to the yearly output of the entire country of Yemen.

Robin Oakley, a climate campaigner with Greenpeace, commented:

"We're here to tell Woolworths that their customers want them to move a lot faster. Removing power crazy light bulbs from the shelves should be a first, quick step on the road towards offering truly sustainable products across the board. Instead, Woolworths are doing the bare minimum, while most of their competitors are going much further."

Woolworths recently changed its policy after a Greenpeace league table, which lists the commitments of all major UK retailers to phasing out power crazy bulbs, gave them a W grade - for worst. A recent hurried decision to comply with the 2011 Government target still puts them behind Currys (2007), Habitat (2009), Sainsburys (2010), and Asda (2010).

"The scientists are telling us that we have less than ten years left to really drastically reduce our carbon dioxide emissions" Oakley continued - "but Woolworths are telling us that it takes four of those years to change a light bulb. If the company really cares about offering their customers value for money they should only be selling CFL bulbs, which save households around £50 every single year."

Notes to editors

• Switching to energy efficient, compact fluorescent bulbs will cut 15% from the average household electricity bill. This equates to around £50 per year.
• The cheapest compact fluorescent, energy efficient bulb on sale at Woolworths is priced at £2.49. This is twelve times more expensive than their cheapest incandescent bulb (at 20p). Efficient CFL bulbs are on sale for 39p at Morrisons or 49p at John Lewis.

• Using Government figures, Greenpeace has calculated that the UK could save 5.1 million tones of Co2 per year by eliminating incandescent light bulbs - the equivalent output of the 26 lowest emitting countries combined. Put another way, if the entire country made this switch, the Government could shut down two entire power stations.

For more information, pictures and interviews please contact the Greenpeace press office on 0207 865 8255