It has now dawned on the regulators, and the manufacturers that there are other possibilities rather than CFLi or LED. Brought to the point in trying to sort out how to regulate reflector lamps they have now realised that there is no current or medium term option other than continued development of Tungsten Halogen technology.
The manufacturers have also realised that the mass import of mercury containing lamps to the EU is not such a clever idea either particularly as the infrastructure for collection and recycling of these rather dirty products is not catching up with the increased rate of imports. This has not been helped by the ban on export of Mercury from the EU resulting in a one way traffic of mercury into the EU and a zero market for recovered mercury that makes the recycling of CFLi more difficult and even less cost effective. From what I have heard they are now stalking the corridors of Brussles persuading the legislators that TH based lamps should remain acceptable for the foreseeable future.
Many members of the European Parliament feel that they have been conned into passing what has proven , particularly in Germany, to be a very unpopular piece of legislation that has made them unpopular with their electorate.
So lets see how things work out in the USA where the political backlash has happened before the legislation has been put in place. It may be that come the first review of the European legislation, due to start in 2012, is undertaken we may see some retrenchment from the current situation and that incandescent lamps, all be it more efficient Tungsten Halogen ones, will remain with us for a good deal longer.
Kevan Shaw
