I've just bought a supply of oil for our oil lamps. I get a splitting headache after a few minutes under these "high efficiency glare producers" and won't allow them in my house.

I've stocked up on filament bulbs, but when they run out it'll be back to oil light - unless I can smuggle some proper lamps from abroad.

Keith Jillings, Benfleet, Essex

Sadly, this is yet another example of an ignorant politician attempting to score 'brownie points' by appearing to be concerned for the environment.

The problem of our increasing energy demand is one which needed to be addressed 20+ years ago. And yet years of failure to invest in/develop alternative energy sources brings us to the point now where this incompetent government wants to tell every single resident how they can and cannot light their homes! Even people who install solar panels/wind turbines to their property will be banned from using their OWN power to illuminate it by incandescent means.

Sorry, but this dictatorial control over our everyday lives has gone too far. I have tried many CFLs and never found a single one which can hold a candle to any incandescent bulb with its warm glow. A couple of hours under fluorescent light gives me eyestrain and headaches, and I know I am not alone in this.

We 'proper bulb' fans need to stockpile them before it's too late!

Craig Loan, Midhurst, West Sussex, England.

I would like to point out a few points raised by people in this forum. Firstly, although costing £10+ each, CFL bulbs are available in the UK which work with dimmers, I have one myself.

Furthermore, standard bulbs are now very cheap, I bought around 20 of them for £0.39 each from Morrisons. I am sure that in the next 5 years the technology will increase so that these bulbs solve all the problems listed, cold appearance of light, time taken to reach full brightness etc.

Does anyone remember the start for digital cameras? Everyone was complaining about quality etc etc, now even the professionals use them and film is just for nostalgia.

Michael, Chester,

Another piece of legislation which has been slipped in without first explaining to the public what is to be. This ugly bulb, giving icy-cold unfriendly light, its light allergic to many, giving no response to dimmers, and unsuited for many types of lamps will no doubt come about,but with disastrous results ,forcing a re-think. No doubt the manufacturers are all ready thinking in terms of an up-dated form of paraffin lamp to give us that warm glow to winter's evenings. We will not get this from the icicle light of these new bulbs. Insects will adore them though!

Eric Watson, Las Palmas, Canary Islands

the current alternative is not the answer. i believe a development of the LED would be better in terms of light output and yes we would need a special device to have a variable light control.
Just look at all the leds we currently use that take less electricity
it is just a matter of will and some money to develop the led replacement bulb.
i do not want to be changiing fittings for them and you can forget the flourescents too many problems as other people have noticed .

b.powell, leicester, uk

so now instead of 60p lightbulgbs we have to buy £15 a go bulbs? yeah no wonder the shops are jumping behind it

also the amount of C02we produce is nothing compared to what is NATURALLY produced by rain forests at night, wildlife or the biggest contributer, the ocean.

humans c02 emissions account for about 5% of all emissions into the atmosphere you just have to look into it.

all a big scam.

Mike, Middlesbrough,

Environmentalists talk about cost savings on Cfls
but with replacing all your bulbs in the home which is quite a lot or people with low ceilings, chances are you may accidentally smash one even if you're a careful person, and if you do, its costs several thousand pounds/dollars to decontaminate.
Also Cfls require a huge surge in energy to start and since they don't like being switched on/off, many people leave them running for much longer than they should. Also Cfls have poor color rendering or very inaccurate colors. Even full spectrum ones have spikes. I do agree that incandescent light is too a big energy waster, and they should be more highly taxed, but we should not be forced to use cfls. The best thing would be if they were used in hallways or areas where light quality is not paramount. Also what about markets using incandescents outdoors? The heat then goes to waste instead of heating a room, and all those shops lighting billboards during the day?

Leon, London, UK

Thank you to the person who invented light bulb in 1880s, Thomas Edison. However, because of this civilisation society keeps growing all the time, and the natural resources from thousands of millions years will be used up very soon. I really think every single person in the world should think of their next or even further generations of how are they going to survive from the damage that we have made or are still making at the moment. This is a planet that we are living on, and all of us must have their responsibilities to take care of our planet every single second. As some scienctist report shows the ice in Artic is melted than the proof eariler, and I doubt it would be more quicker than their latest announced year again. Also, we have been neglecting the South Pole, Antarctic, but it does not mean there is nothing happening in there. Please do something everyone.

Ben, London, UK

Whilst it is certainly true that incandescent lamps are only 10% efficient, and consequently there is some justification to this idea, there are numerous other consequences. If ALL incandescent lamps are to be phased out, have you any idea how many lamp fittings will need replacing? There are no CFLs that can satisfactorily replace the high-power halogen bar lamps currently used as security lights, amongst other things. As a now retired engineer, I am all for modernisation and progress, and would welcome an improved lamp, but CFLs are not the panacea of all ills. Indeed, many people have found that they are often a poor substitute for the inefficient tungsten filament bulb. Once again, this government is trying to impose its own illogical and ineffective agenda on us simply to be seen to be doing something without actually considering all the consequences of its actions. Oh please, DO have a snap election and rid yourselves of this incompetent and arrogant apology for a government.

Adrian Ryan, Donegal, Ireland

Hilary Benn obviously doesn't understand the dangers of using flourescent lighting anywhere near rotating machinery.

Flourescent lights have a nasty, and very dangerous, habit of making moving machinery appear to be stationary, hence the requirement in the Factories Act (at least when I was an apprentice!) that all machine tools MUST be supplied with standard tungsten lighing.

I have sufficient regard for my own safety to continue to use tunsten bulbs near machinery (regardless of Mr Benn's bid for stardom), and would advise all your readers to do the same!

Mike Bibby, St Albans, England -not EU

It would be fine if the shops sold light fittings designed to look OK with energy saving bulbs. Take a quick trip around the lighing department in most high street stores, and you find lots designed for halogens, or incandescent but few designed for flourescent or LED bulbs.

How non-green are incandescent bulbs anyway? It's true that incandescent bulbs don't produce as much light per watt as flourescent bulbs, the energy that doesn't get made into light is emmitted as heat, meaning that, in a domestic centrally heated setting, your boiler doesn't have to use so much gas.

Also, people whose lighting is designed to work with dimmers will find that flurescent alternatives won't work.

Martin, Stockport, England

And this marvellous public-spirited initiative this has nothing to do with the much higher price of energy saving bulbs, of course, and the greatly increased margin to be made on them. Having converted to all energy-saving bulbs in my home last year, I'm now finding that they're of such poor quality that a substantial number have failed after 1,000 hours rather than the 10,000 they are supposed to last. I'm replacing them with incandescent bulbs because neither the economics nor the logic of continuing with high-priced short-life fluorescent bulbs makes any sense when they're going to land-fill in less time than incandescents.

Still, it's encouraging to see British retailers in the vanguard when it comes to leading the way to a better, more responsible society. We can soon expect to see similar socially responsible moves from these modern-day heroes to outlaw alco-pops, make it impossible to buy lethal knives over the counter, pay farmers a proper price for their produce, etc etc?

Jacques Francis, Westcott, UK

It's not going to make a blind bit of difference as long as people still use electric heating. And they're actually building NEW houses with electric heating. So all this is a load of twaddle.

starling, Lancaster,

What about the increasing number of homes and offices using the small halogen dichroic lamps (spot lights) - these cannot be easily replaced by flourescent bulbs. While in theory these are more efficient than traditional bulbs, they are much worse than flourescent bulbs. In addition, the way these lamps are used, in arrays of many in one small room, often on one switch, mean they can use a substantial amount of energy.

In any case, if the sale of bulbs is banned, people will stockpile them shortly before the ban is introduced.

James Thomas, York, UK

In addition to all the other comments there are a few others I have thought of.
CFLs are not efficient when used for short periods.
The brightness of CFLs is very poor (watts per square metre per steradian) This means they are unfocussable.
A filament light source is very much smaller than a CFL and so can be focussed into a small area. This is essential for cabinet displays, lighing effects, lighting individual pictures etc. car headlights....
I have found CFLs very good for desk lamps, where the fact they do not get nearly so hot is a real advantage and safety factor.
All the types of lamp on the market have their place. By all means encourage people to consider alternatives but taking a particular group of them off the market is complete nonsense. I can still buy candles, there are even a few gas mantles around in London as well as those used in camping.

What we need is a non polluting source of energy not an unnecessary restriction on our lifestyle.

Tony, Farnham Common,

Lots of good comments here especially about the so-called "wasted energy" which actually just goes to heat your home which for 7-8 months of the year in the UK is useful and therefore not wasted.

Another point which I don't think has been raised is the problem of dimmer switches. According to Lightbulbs-direct.com, there are no CFL bulbs available in the UK that work with dimmers. This seems like a pretty major issue that nobody has highlighted - i.e. as well as replacing the bulbs you also need to replace the switches and you lose the ability to change the level of light in the room.

Mark Horley, London,

In our hall we switched from energy-saving bulbs back to the traditional bulb because I just couldn't see things properly! Hopefully we will be able to buy our bulbs over the Internet if this heavy-handed initiative actually happens. Hilary Benn, if energy-saving bulbs gave an equivalent light, came on immediately and responded well to dimmer switches, don't you think we'd be buying them without needing to be told to?

Philip, Northampton,

The problem with fluorescents is that they produce a very poor colour spectrum. Jewellers, artists and other high-end retailers will never accept them and nor should we, because there is an alternative low energy technology: IR-coated 12V halogens. These are relatively new and not a lot of people know about them. Firstly, any halogen lamp is more energy efficient than a simple tungsten filamant lamp, but low-voltage (12V) halogens are better still. A couple of companies now produce IR-coated 12V halogens which use 40% less electricity still. For example, a 20W 12V Philips Masterline-ES = a normal 35W 12V lamp = 50W mains halogen = 70W tungsen filament bulb! It even beats the best compact fluorescents brightness per watt, easily beating the inefficient fluorescent replacements for recessed ceiling spots. So are we going to get a genuine move to low energy lamps like the masterline-es or is this little baby going to be thrown out with the bath water?

Keir Watson, Chichester, West Sussex

Maybe we should think about turning off the street lights that shine when nobody is about at 3am?

Martin, Rainham, Kent

OK - if Jo Public is going to to forced to save energy by changing to low energy lamps, let us see an example in government buildings, town halls, etc. and turn a few lights off. I think many were built without switches as the lights burn 24/7.

As usual Mr Benn, like any politician, only tells us what he wants us to know - and that isn't a lot. How about some real guidance and information - progress on developing alternative lamps that work properly - what about outdoor flood lights and other specialist uses - how about overcoming the stroboscopic effect with moving machinery. Don't say the H & S bods have missed something!

Martin, Devon, UK

FOR WHOSE BENEFIT?

The so-called energy efficient bulbs are vastly more expensive to purchase than regular, incandescent bulbs. Further, when ONLY the flourescents are available, we all know what will happen to their prices: Through the roof!

For whose benefit is this change being made? Is this a forced subsidy for the benefit of some wealthy corporation(s)?

What ever happened to the right of the consumer to chose in a free enterprise system?

I smell a racket...or a rat!

Is the British public not intelligent enough to make choices and decisions that are freely available to consumers in other countries? Will you now be told which car you must buy? What store you must now shop at? Which make of knickers to wear?

For whose benefit is Britain being governed?

Garth Strong, San Diego, USA

Does anyone know where I can buy low energy reflector spotlight bulbs? Or am I supposed to remove the fittings I have at present necessary to light dark corners and replace them with inferior, but low energy, bulbs in terms of luminesence. I suppose I could always wear a miners lamp on my head!

Roy, Chinnor, UK

Two QQ: (1) I hope manufacturers of 'energy-efficient' bulbs can will cure the lag in their response. Otherwise I foresee problems using these in situations where instantaneous illiumination is needed (e.g stairways)
(2) Will those who choose to, still be able to buy incandescent bulbs from other EU countries? Or does Granny Benn propose to ban their import? Will there be a black market in bulbs?

James Toal, Wemyss Bay,

I somehow doubt it will save 5 million tonnes of CO2 a year. The whole theory of the huge savings from using low energy bulbs is seriously flawed. Yes, you will get some saving but nowhere near what they expect. Why? Because most of the year incandescent light bulbs don't actually "waste" energy - the heat they produce helps heat your home. So when you replace all your bulbs with low energy ones your central heating will have to work a little bit harder to make up for it, so the CO2 generation moves from the power station to your home.

So it only really helps in the summer when the central heating is off ... and your lights are on least.

And that's before we start questioning the higher cost of manufacture and disposal for low energy bulbs.

Paul Oldham, Cambridge, England

This is a good plan as long as disposal / recycling of the new fluorescent bulbs is taken into consideration. The flourescent bulbs contain mercury and can cause more damage to the environment than standard incandescent bulbs.

ken andrews, atlanta , usa georgia

Can anybody tell be where I can get low energy replacements for the miniature bayonet spotlight bulbs in my new kitchen 3 and 5 bulb light units, or the miniature screw in 40W bulbs for the chandeliers in the lounge? What about the 60W strip light in the lamp with the shaver socket above the bathroom mirror?
Looks as though I shall have to buy a 20 year supply before it's too late!
Does the House Seller's home energy audit look at light bulbs?

Tony Howard, sidcup, kent

I have tried the low energy bulb and found that the light is awful and once I started researching found that they contain toxic materials.

I am sure that the traditional light bulb can be improved and can be made to last longer so this should be the way forward and not to force use to use these awful florescent bulbs.

With the amount of pollution created by China, USA and Russia changing our bulbs will make no noticeable difference whatsoever except to line the pockets of a few manufacturers.

The government has to stop forcing a nanny state onto us, if they have a valid point then explain, counter any argument and persuade us to change dont just shove it down our throats.

joseph Kellie, Edinburgh, Scotland

I heartily endorse the comments made by JACK,
BROMLEY, UK! :

" I wish politicians would spend their time tackling issues that more people worry about, particularly immigration.

There is too much immigration occurring. Light bulbs are a piffling issue compared to the resources immigrants require such as policing, health care, benefits, housing, and not to mention competition for most peoples' jobs.

Before embarking on idealistic ways to 'save the world', a higher priority should be given to the practical problem of immigration which threatens to erode everyone’s quality of life."

It seems that the politicians are most eagerly trying to phase out traditional Britain. A truly great nation is in the process of being destroyed from within. This is a loss that neither the British nor the World can afford.

The sound of Big Ben has been replaced by the sound of a ticking time bomb: tick! tick! tick!....TICK!

Garth Rex, Glendale Heights, USA

The savings projections are wrong... the electronic ballasts in the CFLs fail long before the bulb... CFLs cost more and polute more in any application where they are switched on and off frequently. CFLs are really just a way of transferring excess waste mercury to the trash, 5 milligrams at a time.

Paul, Dayton, USA / Ohio

My recent employer would find that it was heading for a big profit problem at the end of the financial year. The announcement from the board was that everybody had to save on stationery. That the total budget for stationery was only £20k a year and that we had spent most of it littled not. And did the board and sales managers cut back on their £3k business flights to the US? What do you think?

Well okay it gets some kind of message across to the population but light bulbs aren't going to impact on the environment a huge lot are they?

Better the government said that they were phasing out all cars that could not achieve more than 20mpg this year. Phase out all cars that could not achieve 30mpg next year and then 40mpg the next.

Watch those carbon targets fall into place!

ps two of my new low energy light bulbs packed up after 2 months. £6!!

Richard, Plymouth, England

I wish politicians would spend their time tackling issues that more people worry about, particularly immigration.

There is too much immigration occurring. Light bulbs are a piffling issue compared to the resources immigrants require such as policing, health care, benefits, housing, and not to mention competition for most peoples' jobs.

Before embarking on idealistic ways to 'save the world', a higher priority should be given to the practical problem of immigration which threatens to erode everyone’s quality of life.

Jack, Bromley, UK

The "wasted" energy of standard incandescent bulbs is given off as heat. So energy is not really wasted but heats the house. Move from incandescent to low energy bulbs and you have to turn up heating systems to compensate.
Flourescent bulbs have poor spectral properties which can cause people problems. They require far more energy to manufacture than traditional bulbs and use a number of toxic materials including mercury. To keep costs down, they are made in places like China, as they are very labour intensive in production, and the toxic materials is less of an issue.
LED lighting is immature and probably requires the most energy of all technologies to manufacture.
Incandescent lighting can be improved easily. A doubling of luminous efficiency and a many fold increase in life is possible with minimum investment, however the producers do not want to kill their cash cow.

Now government will do it for them, and give the NHS and the environment yet another toxic headache.

andrew, Doncaster,

Brilliant!
With all the money saved they'll just about be able to pay for all the medical costs incurred by accidents in the home resulting from the pathetically low luminescence produced by low (there's a reason, geddit?!) energy bulbs. The Law of Unintended Consequences strikes again! Save the planet? Wot about Granny's hip????

Jonathan, Bath,

CFLs give out an appalling lurid glare, hateful compared to the warm friendly light from a filament lamp. Why does the householder have to suffer whilst appalling waste goes unchecked - shops with heaters on over open doors, blazing lights far more brilliant then anything in the home and councils across the land cheerfully increasing energy usage unchecked by replacing the ultra low energy yellow sodium lamp with the high pressure golden version which uses almost twice the power.

Steve, norwich, Norfolk

No, this is not a whacko environmental policy but one backed up by very firm science. You can probably find a spreadsheet online to help you determine the exact cost vs. savings equation on using compact fluorescent vs. the standard tungsten halogen bulbs but here’s a quick summation.
Depending on your local energy costs, compact fluorescents should pay off their initial upfront cost for the consumer within 2-6 months. CF bulbs basically use 25% of the energy/wattage of standard bulbs so you can replace a 100W bulb with a 25W CF bulb A CF bulb will last much, much longer and has a lifetime 3-4 times that of a standard bulb. Another benefit is the lack of heat they emit compared to standard bulbs. 90% of the energy emitted by a standard bulb is heat and in climates where air conditioning is used multiple high heat producing bulbs can substantially raise cooling costs.

James, Atlanta, USA

I still have a few years to stock up on incandescent bulbs.
i am guessing i could buy a few boxes that should see me out.

Dave , Peterborough,

What Benn clearly does not know is that the light from energy saving bulbs is different from that produced by incandescent bulbs. As a result a huge increase of people with SAD will follow. In Germany these energy saving bulbs have been around for 20 years or so, but could not gain a bigger market share because of this side effect. I agree with Thalia in London: lower energy incandescent bulbs would be a better alternative. Or saving energy where it really counts: cook with gas if you can, do not leave any appliances on stand-by etc. Banning all normal bulbs just sounds like the usual marketing ploy of the Brits, who try to make the end consumer pay to coveer their incompetence. How long have the Brits ignored our environmental problems? The Germans have been aware of them for 35 years and have acted on them - but without just collecting more money into the tax kitty. They have responsibly researched alternative methods and technologies without moving in on peoples take-home pay.

IM, Hennef, Germany

What an insane idea that these energy saving bulbs can replace standard bulbs. They give off a cold flourescent light which makes them useless for any artistic or creative enviroment. The amount of light that they give off is pitiful compared to the standard light bulb and the costs are prohibitive with these bulbs usually five times the price of a regular bulb.

Jonas, Edinburgh, Scotland

The UK is to phase out traditional light bulbs by 2011.

Will environmentalists be seeing a light at the end of the tunnel?

Judi, Maryculter, Aberdeenshire

Hilary Benn should have a look at Christopher Booker's article called Dimwits in the Daily Mail on 14th April 2007, which goes some way towards explaining why fluorescent light bulbs are not the answer to everything.

Carol, Redditch,

Testing!

Sorry, I'm wondering if my browser doesn't work, nothing I try to post seems to get posted.

As long as they install electric heating in new houses, using low-energy lightbulbs won't make a blind bit of difference.

starling, Lancaster,

Ask Mr Benn what commitment he has obtained from bulb manufacturers to start to produce small fluorescent bulbs which are needed for 50% of Britain's lamp shades.

Ian, Solihull,

' Follow the money ' is always a good thing to do. Who benefits for all this bulb replacement?. Has anyone really done a cost benefit study of replacing thses bulbs?. Using real numbers, and not the usual 'Green ' drivel. What is a carbon footprint, and how is it calculated?. Did anyone know that there are more trees in the USA than 500 years ago?. What is the case in the UK.? Everyone go out and read Bjorn Lomberg's new book ' Cool it '. An eco wacko with brains!.

Desmond Taylor, Houston, Usa Tx

Fluorescent light bulbs contain mercury which is extremely toxic and can cause very nasty health problems.
Fluorescent can not be thrown in the bin because they are legally toxic waste. What measures has Benn taken to stop fluorescent light bulbs poisoning people and the enviroment with mercury?
Better quality, lower energy incandescent bulbs would be a much better alternative.

Thalia, London,

Light bulbs are harmless. It's the power stations that need changing.

The environmental lobby doesn't want us to have nuclear or tidal energy and they are trying to confuse the issue with all this silly middle-class feel-good stuff about light bulbs, recycling, hessian shopping bags etc.

Simon, Bristol,

Something will have to be done about teh warm-up period of fluorescent bulbs though. I have a bulb from IKEA that takes about a second to switch on, so no immediate feedback results in me sometimes flicking the switch back and forth to see if it's working, and then for about 5 minutes my white walls have a green tint to them as the bulb heats up. The light emitted by fluorescent bulbs is a disgusting harsh light and is no substitute for tungsten. The government had better be heavily subsidising halogen and fluorescent bulbs if they intend on doing this.

Andrew, Redcar, UK