Europe Kicks Off Week 1 of Its Halogen Bulb Ban. Here’s What’s Happening.

This marks week one of Europe’s new ban on halogen lightbulbs. The ban went into effect on Sept. 1, according to The Guardian.

As the continent fades out halogen bulbs, light-emitting diodes, or LED lights, are coming in. Europe is opting for this lighting solution because LEDs only need one-fifth of the energy that halogen bulbs use, and are expected to prevent more than 15M tons of carbon emissions per year, “an amount equal to Portugal’s annual electricity usage,” The Guardian says.

Plus, they last longer; LEDs’ life span is around 15 to 20 years, whereas halogen bulbs only last around two years.

While halogens are individually cheaper than LEDs, they don’t save consumers money in the long run. In fact, some types of these bulbs could add $100 to average energy bills, The Guardian says. But, with LEDs, consumers will see a reduction in their energy bills; some could save around $130 per year on energy costs.

Takeaways for decision makers:

Europe’s ban on halogen bulbs is another example of the world moving towards greener power solutions; in January of this year, California became the first state to ban halogen bulbs, and Australia plans to be halogen-free by 2020. The switch especially makes sense when the cost of emissions is examined, The Guardian says. For example, a home in Britain contains about 10 halogen lights, and uses each of those bulbs for approximately three hours a day. Then there’s energy consumption on the industrial scale: “buildings account for about 40 percent of our energy consumption – and lighting currently accounts for around 15 percent of that. That gives it a carbon footprint higher than aviation and shipping combined,” The Guardian says.

Based on the benefits, from saving money to their long lifespan, LEDs seem to be a no-brainer when it comes to investing in a new lighting solution.

Eliot Whittington, the director of the Prince of Wales’s corporate leaders group, agrees, and told The Guardian: “The science is clear. We can’t allow the human costs of climate change to reach the levels they will, if we fail to act. You ban things that threaten public safety and the wasteful use of energy is dangerous for us all in the end.”