The Lights will go out in Australia

[Farin]

[h1]Australia to change lightbulbs to curb warming[/h1]

CANBERRA, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Australia will be the world's first country to ban incandescent lightbulbs in a bid to curb Greenhouse gas emissions, with the government saying on Tuesday they would be phased out within three years. Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull said yellow incandescent bulbs, which have been in use virtually unchanged for 125 years, would be replaced by more efficient compact fluorescent bulbs by 2009.

"By that stage you simply won't be able to buy incandescent lightbulbs, because they won't meet the energy standard," Turnbull told local radio.

Australia along with the U.S. has refused to sign up to the Kyoto Protocol setting Greenhouse Gas reduction targets, calling instead for an agreement requiring energy-hungry developing countries like India and China to help combat climate change.

Turnbull said the banning of incandescent bulbs would help trim 800,000 tonnes from Australia's current emissions level by 2012 and lower household lighting costs by 66 per cent.

British and Californian lawmakers also have been lobbying for bans on incandescent lightbulbs, which lose much of their energy as heat.

Australia's conservative Prime Minister John Howard said he would not adopt any Greenhouse targets which hurt the country's resource-reliant economy.

Australians are per head among the world's biggest greenhouse gas producers, but climate change issues are shaping up as major concerns for voters in national elections due later this year as severe drought grips the country.

[The Seeker]

I misread this as indecent lightbulbs...I wonder what that might be...

[Uncle Joe]

Fin conjures up visons of many different shaped "bulbs".

[c_s_1987]

I did hear about this on the radio, but I have pretty much forgotten about it since.

It makes barely any difference to my family - we have pretty much all fluorescent lights already.

I am completely supporting the move - did you know that approximately 95% of the energy needed to power an incandescent light globe is wasted as heat, whereas it is only around 5% for fluorescent lights? Something to think about.

There is no other way of describing how I feel about our refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol - I am pissed off. It is just typical of John Howard following George Bush in almost every way. }