Life after the bulb : sustainable lighting solutions without inefficient incandescent lamps

Since the Live Earth concerts and with the growing discussion on climate change, alert energy saving is really on the agenda now. Governments are putting in place energy regulations and urging industry to come up with innovative solutions. The best strategy for reducing CO2 emissions is quite simply to use less energy. This is why the incandescent lamp is going to be banned in Australia, and other countries seem to be about to follow suit. Incidentally, the first country to ban the incandescent lamp was Cuba. Two years ago, in an effort to reduce imports of expensive (fossil) fuels, Fidel Castro himself decided that in Cuba all incandescent lamps should be replaced by more efficient fluorescent lamps. Inefficient incandescent lamps need to be phased out and substituted with existing (or new) energy-efficient alternatives, including compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), energy-saving halogen lamps and LED lamps. The proposal to ban incandescent lamps, which is supported by Philips, has led to serious discussions, particularly because this is a political decision that is very visible to the public. It is a decision that will bring about direct change in people’s own homes. The purpose of this article is not, however, to reopen the debate about banning the incandescent lamp, but rather to examine what consequences such a decision would have for lighting design and the quality of lighting in general. Is it possible to design lighting solutions without incandescent lamps that can offer a higher level of energy efficiency and the same or an even better lighting quality?