ACS

The 1st January marked the next phase of the voluntary phase out of energy inefficient light bulbs by the UK retail sector.

On 8th December there was a vote in the EU on the European Commission's proposals for a regulation to progressively phase out incandescent bulbs, starting in 2009 and finishing at the end of 2012. By enforcing the regulation of switching to energy saving bulbs, it is estimated that EU citizens will save close to 40 TWh. This is roughly the electricity consumption of Romania, or of 11 million European households, or the equivalent of the yearly output of 10 power stations of 500 megawatts. It will lead to a reduction of about 15 million tons of CO2 emission per year.

Consumers will still have the choice between long-life compact fluorescent lamps that currently yield the highest energy savings (up to 75% less energy than incandescent lamps), or efficient halogen lamps that are fully equivalent to incandescent bulbs in terms of light quality, providing between 25% and 50% energy savings.

The regulation will now be scrutinised by the European Parliament. It is scheduled for formal adoption by the Commission in March 2009.

The regulations formalise the work that ACS, alongside other retailers in the UK, have already been doing. ACS is signed up to a voluntary agreement with the Department of Environment to phase out the sale of energy inefficient light bulbs with power wattage of over 60.