Halogen light bulbs banned across Europe

New European rules ban new retail orders of directional halogen light bulbs, which waste up to ten times more energy than LEDs.

In the first phase of the plan to completely ban halogen bulbs, no new retail orders of e GU10 spotlights and PAR30 floodlights will be possible.

Those already in stores will still be sold, and bulbs with an energy label rating of B or above, such as low-voltage halogen spotlights, will not be affected.

A wider ban on halogen light bulbs, such as candle or traditional shaped bulbs, will be introduced in 2018.

The changing regulations aim to encourage consumers to shift to LED lamps, which can cut lighting electricity bills by up to 90 per cent, according to coolproducts efficiency campaign.

Halogen bulbs use a similar amount of energy as traditional incandescent light bulbs – much more than ‘super-efficent’ LEDs – and generally last for less than two years.

Jack Hunter, a coolproducts spokesman, calculated: “With bulb purchase costs included, British homes on the average tariff will pay £126 per socket over a 10-year period for halogen lights, compared to £16 for LEDs”.

 

The European Commission itself argued that EU standards across all product ranges will save the average consumer 465 Euros per year on energy bills by 2020.

 

The rules will also rein in greenhouse gas emissions, as lighting accounts for about as much power use as the residential electricity consumption of the UK, France, Italy, Portugal and the Netherlands combined.

In 2013, 154m directional halogen bulbs were sold in Europe, a fifth of the overall 772m halogen bulb market that year.