Government announces voluntary phase out of power crazy light bulbs by 2011: Greenpeace response

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.