Monday, March 12, 2007
ORDINARY light bulbs are to be banned across the European Union within two years in the fight against climate change.
The 490 million citizens of the 27 member states will be expected to switch to energy-efficient bulbs after a summit of EU leaders yesterday told the European Commission to "rapidly submit proposals" to that effect.
Environmentalists said the change would save the public up to £5.4 billion a year in fuel bills and also about 20 million tonnes of carbon emissions every year.
I respect the idea behind it, but I am wondering about the practicality of a blanket ban. How are those in poverty going to be helped to afford the cost of switching over? Are there going to be exemptions for those who have dimmer switches? There are problems with dimmer switches and CFL's.
However, at least Europe is not in denial about the problem, and hopefully implementation questions will be well addressed before the policy goes into effect.
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