Energy experts, environmental activists and Philips Lighting North America recently announced that they are working together to eliminate this lighting product from the American market by 2016.
They intend to achieve this by encouraging consumers to replace their incandescent bulbs, choosing alternatives for their homes and businesses that allow energy to be used more rationally and more efficiently.
The alternatives that can save energy by replacing incandescent bulbs include:
– fluorescent lamps
– improved halogen lamps
– high-efficiency incandescent lamps
– LEDs (light-emitting diodes)
, and other energy-saving lighting products may well be developed as well.
To understand how much phasing out incandescent bulbs could contribute to saving energy, it is enough to consider a few indicative figures:
– If one incandescent bulb were replaced with an energy-efficient one in every home in the United States, enough energy would be saved to light 7 million homes, and emissions would fall by as much as removing 1 million cars from the roads.
– If incandescent bulbs are withdrawn from the market, by 2016 emissions will be cut by as much as those produced by 80 coal-fired plants in one year.
In statements, representatives of the Alliance to Save Energy expressed their satisfaction at taking part in this effort, pointing to the economic, environmental and national security benefits of this change in the lighting market: lower energy costs for both individuals and businesses, less air pollution, a smaller contribution to the greenhouse effect, and savings in countries’ energy reserves.
Achieving the ambitious goal that will make these benefits possible will, of course, also require government support.
We are therefore waiting to see when similar moves will be made in the European Union market. The growing awareness of corporate social responsibility among businesses today makes us optimistic that energy saving and environmental awareness will lead to similar initiatives in the Greek market too.
