Starting today, Europeans will have a near impossible time finding incandescent light bulbs in the local grocery, drug store, or home improvement store. That’s because today is the day the European Union put their incandescent light bulb ban into action. Although retailers are permitted to sell what remaining incandescent bulbs they have in stock until they’re all gone, they are no longer to purchase incandescents to put on sale in their stores.

Letting go of old lighting technology

There are those, it would seem, who are mourning the loss of their traditional bulbs and choosing to are stockpile the things before stores run out. Whether it’s because they prefer the light quality of an incandescent or that they have a hard time stomaching the higher sticker price, enthusiasm for the program is certainly not universal.

While I can sympathize with the frustration over light quality (I’ve got a few yellow-ish compact fluorescents lights (CFLs) in my home that make my reflected image look less than appealing), the financials for incandescents just don’t add up. Sure, it will cost more to invest in CFLs, but as officials at the European Union (E.U.) point out, the savings are tremendous. CFLs use up to 80 percent less power than a traditional bulb and last 10 times longer, by some estimates, making them the sound lighting investment.

Making large-scale environmental progress

By force or by choice, the E.U. is serious about cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020, and this recent incandescent light bulb ban is just one way they’re doing it. Additional programs involve efficiency improvements in all sorts of consumer products, including televisions and washing machines.

Of course, the debate over the effectiveness of environmental legislation rages on, and this will certainly give us a good indication of how it works ahead of the US ban on incandescents set for 2012.