Energy efficient light sources like this compact fluorescent bulb look set to replace the incandescent bulb Down Under, after the Australian Government announced today that the conventional bulbs will be phased out by 2010.

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SYDNEY: The venerable but rampantly inefficient conventional incandescent light bulb is set to be phased out in Australia by 2010.

The move is expected to reduce Australia's carbon emissions by roughly four million tonnes per year by 2015, when all incandescent bulbs will have been replaced with more energy-efficient options.

"The most effective and immediate way we can reduce greenhouse gas emissions is by using energy more efficiently," said Australian Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull, announcing the new policy earlier today. "Electric lighting is a vital part of our lives … but it is still very inefficient. We have been using incandescent light bulbs for 125 years and up to 90 per cent of the energy each light bulb uses is wasted, mainly as heat."

Emissions can be reduced, said Turnbull, by switching to alternatives like compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs), which use about 80 per cent less energy than conventional incandescent bulbs.

According to the ministry, energy for lighting represents about 12 per cent of greenhouse emissions from households, and 25 per cent from the commercial sector.

Nationwide energy provider EnergyAustralia reports on their website that swapping one conventional bulb for a compact fluorescent can prune up to A$10 from your electricity bill every year.

Traditional incandescent bulbs generate light by forcing electric current along a very thin wire called a filament, usually made of tungsten. The flowing current heats the filament so much that it glows brightly - producing light as a by-product of heat.

In the far more efficient and long-lasting fluorescent bulbs, a small amount of mercury vapour is contained inside a glass tube. Electric discharges inside the tube cause the mercury to emit ultraviolet light, which is invisible to humans. A fluorescent coating on the inside of the tube (which gives fluorescent lights their familiar opaque white colour) absorbs the photons and re-emits them as visible light.

Charlie Stevens, a spokesperson for WWF Australia, notes that, while "energy-efficient bulbs are more expensive than the 60-cent bulbs from the supermarket," consumers will make their money back quickly in electricity bill savings.

WWF has congratulated the new policy, but cautioned that it is not a cure for global warming. "We think it's a great idea. This is a useful first step in transforming to an energy efficient world," said Stevens, "but it is a small first step … a lot of work still needs to be done."

In 2004, Australia emitted about 564 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. The reduction of four million tonnes expected from full replacement of incandescent bulbs with CFLs is equivalent to 1 per cent of the total. Stevens, suggesting that a suitable goal for tackling global warming would be a massive 60 per cent reduction in emissions from current levels by 2050, said that the new policy "was nowhere near enough."

The new move will not affect halogen bulbs like those found in automobile headlamps and track lighting in homes. While halogens work on a similar principle as incandescents, halogen bulbs last longer and are more efficient than their conventional cousins.

Australia is not the first government to propose switching off incandescents; last month, the U.S. state of California proposed a bill that would phase out incandescent light bulbs by 2012 in favour of CFLs.