How Will The Light Bulb Ban Affect The Lights In Your Home? You have probably read the shock headlines in many of the newspapers about light bulbs being banned, but how much of this is truth and how much is hyperbole? Do we really have to throw away our beautiful Italian lighting because we can no longer buy light bulbs? Well don’t worry, because your Italian lighting is safe. The first thing to mention is that the ban prevents the manufacture of light bulbs and not the sale of light bulbs. Many quality retailers, such as The Lighting Centre in Guildford, Surrey, believe the customer has the right to choose which light bulbs to use, and so have stocked up on their supplies, meaning you will still be able to buy all of the various styles for a long time to come. The phase out is going to happen in stages. The first stage being september 09. This stage states that all non clear lamps i.e. frosted or pearl, will have to have an energy rating of ‘A’. This effectively bans all GLS, candles and golfballs with a frosted glass. How does this effect your Italian lighting? Well, you either use a clear incandescent lamp or you switch to some sort of energy saving replacement with an energy rating of ‘A’. These are currently available but they don’t look as nice as the old lamps, however their appearance is rapidly improving as technology advances. Most Italian lighting uses Murano glass which often has a glossy, almost molten appearance which suits the clear light bulbs anyway. Italian lighting is more often than not brought to life by clear lamps giving it a little more sparkle. The next stage is September 2010. This stage states that all clear lamps above 65 watts will need to have an energy rating of at least ‘C’. How will this effect your Italian lighting? Most Italian lighting chandeliers have a maximum wattage rating of 60 watts anyway so It will probably have no effect on your Italian lighting at all. In September 2011, all clear lamps above 45 watts will need to have an energy rating of at least ‘C’. How will this effect your Italian lighting? There are already halogen lamps available that meet this requirement that look almost identical to normal incandescent lamps, so again, this stage will make very little change to your Italian lighting. September 2012 brings more changes. This stage means that any lamp above 7 watts will need to have an energy rating of at least ‘C’. This stage effectively bans all of the old fashioned incandescent GLS, candles and golfballs. This also means that G9 halogen capsules will need to be at least ‘C’ rated but these are already available so this is not relevant to your Italian lighting. It is also worth mentioning that LED technology has improved dramatically recently and the first usable LED replacement lamps are coming to the market very soon. The colour they can now produce is very similar to that from halogen lamps which means they will make your Italian lighting look fantastic. What this all means is that all these changes are not going to make too much difference to your Italian lighting. Everything that Brussels is going to ban can be replaced by a more efficient and very similar looking lamp so don’t worry. If you would like to see a range of Italian lighting or to see a range of the new light bulbs that are available then please visit The Lighting Centre, Guildford or log on to www.lightingcentre.co.uk.