Ban the (Fluorescent) Bulb? Governments are taking steps to remove CFLs from the market

摘要

Typically, when governments have wanted to shift the market toward more energy-efficient lighting, they have done so by enacting energy standards affecting manufacture and import. In December 2022, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), for example, proposed new energy standards for general-service lamps expected to eliminate the majority of medium-base compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) from the market by the end of the decade. In the case of Vermont and California, however, sale and distribution are prohibited, and the reason isn't just energy; it's about the mercury, a strong and persistent heavy metal toxic to humans and the environment. In 2013, the Minamata Convention called for measures to reduce mercury use, which included a phase-out and reduction in mercury use in various products such as fluorescent lamps. Currently, 137 countries have signed on to the convention, which calls for the phase-out of CFLs by 2025. The Clean Lighting Coalition has called on the Biden administration to ban fluorescent lamps by 2025.