Financial Times Germany reported that the Australian announcement had inspired German legislators to call for similar phase-out measures in their country. SPD energy expert and MP Hermann Scheer said that Germany could save "one to two nuclear power plants" if the government were to introduce a ban on incandescent lamps.
But an SPD spokesperson said that national bans on such products would not be possible because of EU internal-market rules. The German government could try to convince the EU to adopt an approach which would set the most energy-efficient model as an EU standard.
EU energy spokesman Ferran Tarradellas told EurActiv that the Commission has no intentions in its energy-efficiency action plan to ban products such as traditional light bulbs. "We prefer to give incentives to promote the most energy-efficient products and to inform consumers," Tarradellas confirmed.
Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) use much less energy than traditional lamps and last around four times as long. However, they also have disadvantages - they are more expensive, require more energy to produce and their functionality is not the same (less 'warm' in the light and they are not dimmable). There is also a potential environmental problem, as CFLs contain mercury and therefore more care needs to be taken concerning their disposal. For more information on CFLs, see Wikipedia.
Australia is not the first country in the world to consider an outright ban for incandescent light bulbs. In California, a similar proposal to ban the traditional lamps by 2012 was presented in January 2007 under the name "How Many Legislators Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb Act".
