As the industry and governments around the world pivot towards more efficient and environmentally-friendly LEDs, halogen lights are set to disappear from Australia within the next two years!

During a meeting of state and environment ministers, the announcement that halogen bulbs that use four times the energy of LEDs globes were going to be banned in the near future.

The ban is planned to come into effect from September 2020, however the bulbs could begin to disappear from retail stores in as little as 12 months according to the industry’s peak body, Lighting Council Australia.

Richard Mulcahy, the council’s chief executive, said manufacturers would act early to phase out the bulbs.

“Many consumers already prefer LED products and sales volumes of halogen lamps continue to decrease,” he said. “Good quality LED lamps last five to 15 times longer than halogen lamps and at most will consume one-quarter of the energy to produce the same light output.”

Due to the energy-efficiency of LED bulbs, the government estimates that the switch to LEDs could save Australian consumers $1.48 billion over 10 years- impressive, right? Mulcahy has also stated that the majority of domestic halogen lamps could be directly replaced by LED ones, making it simple for replacement.

“Halogen lamps are manufactured overseas and imported into Australia,” he said. “We expect the halogen phase-out will set a date when halogen lamps can no longer be imported into Australia, while specifying a grandfathering period to deal with stock already in the country.

“We expect there may be exemptions – for example for oven lights, which are required to operate in high temperature environments. [But] unless the particular product is subject to an exemption, we expect that halogen lamps will not be available on the retail market.”

A survey that was taken in 2016 found that 32% of households were using halogen lights, 15% LEDs, 13% incandescents, 31% compact fluorescent lamps and 9% linear fluorescents. Earlier in 2010, another survey was taken that recorded only 2% of homes use LEDs, highlighting the growth of the bulbs over the course of the years.

The majority of incandescent lights which waste an approximate 90% of their energy produced as heat were phased out between 2009 and 2012.

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