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Nearly 130 years after the light bulb effectively turned night into day, the classic bell-shaped glass figure that illuminates homes around the world is beginning to retreat into the dark ages.
With Australia becoming the first country to introduce legislation to ban incandescent light bulbs as a way of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, experts predict many countries will quickly follow suit.
New Zealand and Belgium are already promising similar bans, while California is considering a bill to mandate the use of the more energy-efficient compact fluorescent light bulbs.
Ontario and Nova Scotia may not be far behind, with both provinces considering phasing out incandescent bulbs.
A salesman poses with an old-style incandescent light bulb and a new energy-saving compact florescent bulb at a warehouse in Sydney last week. Under an Australian government plan, the older light bulbs will be phased out in favour of the more energy-efficient globes. The move is designed to save money and to help reduce the nation's greenhouse gas emissions. (Associated Press)
But getting people to change their lighting habits isn't as easy as flipping a switch.
"We've got quite a relationship with the incandescent lamp," Toronto-based lighting specialist Ernest Wotton said, "because, quite simply, they've been around such a long time that we're used to them."
The International Energy Agency estimates that switching to fluorescent lighting would cut worldwide electricity demand by 18 per cent and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases significantly. Each compact fluorescent bulb used in place of an incandescent one prevents the emission of half a tonne of carbon dioxide.
Anne O'Hagan, spokeswoman for Ontario Environment Minister Laurel Broten, said that the province is drawing up a plan to cut its greenhouse-gas emissions, and that phasing out incandescent light bulbs is being considered "an idea worth looking at."
"Climate change is a big, abstract concept for many people, but light bulbs are something that we can control," she said.
In addition to the personal connection to classic light bulbs, the image of harsh, flickering office lighting from the 1970s is what people think of when they think fluorescent, said John Jeza, director of mass markets for the Ontario Power Authority.
(The new models are essentially small, spiralled versions of the long tube lights still commonly used in schools and offices.)
"But as with all products, they've developed them so that there are now multiple types of products. They have the soft, white ones that have a warmer colour; they have ones with a bluer colour for people who want them for reading; they have dimmable ones; you can get red ones and green ones for decorative purposes; you can put them outside now," he said. "They don't necessarily cover off every need, but they do cover off a lot of needs."
The Ontario Power Authority estimates that the average household in Ontario has 25 light bulbs. Already, 55 per cent of those households have replaced five or more incandescents with compact fluorescent light bulbs.
Mr. Jeza said that if all remaining incandescent bulbs were replaced with energy-efficient ones, enough electricity would be saved to power the needs of two million people.
A homeowner could save about $117 a year in electricity costs by replacing all of their bulbs. At their current retail cost (about $4, compared with $0.50 for an incandescent bulb) the energy savings would pay for the cost of replacing all the bulbs within a year.
It's that initial cost that is hindering sales of compact fluorescent lighting, said Harry Verhaar, head of energy efficiency at Philips Electronics NV in the Netherlands. He said that fluorescent lighting technology has improved so much that the quality of light is nearly comparable to that of incandescent bulbs.
"People are just not aware of what is possible with lighting, and they're also not aware of how much this can save them in terms of cost," he said from Holland.
"As long as the older technology continues to exist, it will still be bought. It's hard to make people change, even if it's good for the environment."
Even though compact fluorescent light bulbs have been available in stores for several years, incandescent lights still make up about 67 per cent of all global light-bulb sales, while providing only 4 per cent of light output, he said.
The concern that the new bulbs won't fit into lamp and light-fixture sockets isn't an excuse any more either, design expert Luigi Ferrarasaid. However, bulbs shaped similar to incandescent bulbs can cost upward of $8 each.
"People want to and need to control the quality, colour and character of the light," said the director of the design school at George Brown College in Toronto. "Now you can, in almost any situation, except some antique chandeliers."
Other than cost, the only thing that could be holding people back from outfitting their homes with compact fluorescent light bulbs is that "we look nice under [incandescent lighting]," said Mr. Wotton, who has consulted on lighting for the Library of Parliament in Ottawa, as well as museums and art galleries across the country.
Your choices
Lighting in the home accounts for 5 per cent to 10 per cent of total energy use. With more energy-efficient sources of lighting, a household could save more than $100 a year in electricity costs. These are four types of lighting available:
Incandescent
Incandescent lamps are the most widely used light sources in homes. The common light bulb has changed little over the years. It is still the least expensive lighting product to purchase, but it is also the most energy consuming and inefficient light source, with less than 10 per cent of the energy producing visible light (the rest ends up as heat).
Halogen
Halogen lamps are a type of incandescent lamp. They have a longer life than conventional bulbs, but they are only marginally more efficient. Halogen lamps are best suited for lighting areas where a direct focus of light is required, although manufacturers are developing more efficient variations of this type of lighting.
Linear fluorescent
Fluorescent light sources produce more light than many other light sources. These lamps are the most common source of lighting in commercial facilities and can be found in many homes. The glass tubes are filled with gas and a small dot of mercury. When the mercury molecules are excited from a surge of electricity, they give off an invisible light that is converted into visible light by the bulb's phosphor coating. These lamps vary in size from 60 centimetres to 1.2 metres in length for home use.
Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs)
Compact fluorescent lamps use the same technology as linear lamps, but they are much smaller. The smallest CFLs are about 13 centimetres long and 5 centimetres in diameter, with a variety of shapes and sizes available. Unlike linear lamps, these bulbs can be screwed into light sockets to replace incandescent lamps. Although CFLs are more expensive to buy than incandescent bulbs, they use up to two-thirds less energy and last up to eight times longer. Over their life, CFLs will save you money in hydro costs.
SOURCES: B.C. HYDRO, ONTARIO MINISTRY OF ENERGY, ONTARIO POWER AUTHORITY
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