Brits in panic over lightbulb shortage

By Davey Winder
Wednesday, 07 January 2009 18:55

Science - Energy

File under strange but true: it seems that there is a veritable panic amongst Brits over fast dwindling stocks of traditional 100W incandescent lightbulbs.

Everyone likes to do their bit when it comes to being green and helping save the planet, even if we don't really understand if what we are doing makes any real difference. And so it was that the UK Government signed up to the EU decision to banish old-fashioned lightbulbs this year.

The incandescent lightbulb has been around for more than 100 years, but from September it will vanish completely from the high street in Europe as there will be an EU-wide ban on sales of 100W lightbulbs from then.

They are, of course, being replaced by the supposedly more green, more environmentally friendly, low-energy alternative bulbs. You know, the ones that take all night to actually start emitting any decent amount of light and then trigger epileptic fits and migraines.

Which is where the problems start for the new lightbulb, and Brits who would rather stick with the instant-on user friendly light of the 100W incandescent bulb, and sod the planetary consequences thank you very much.

Nobody seems to really care that, as Government ministers suggest, making the switch from old incandescent to new fluorescent bulbs can reduce carbon dioxide by as much as five million tons a year.

They are keeping quiet about the environmental impact, and indeed cost, of disposing of the new bulbs which contain mercury of course.

Anyway, the result being that supermarkets across the UK such as ASDA and Sainsbury's, along with DIY chainstores like Homebase, have all reported that they have now sold every single one of the old lightbulbs that they had in stock and are unable to buy new ones.

Which is why other large supermarkets such as Tesco, the biggest supplier of lightbulbs to the general public in the UK, reckon that their own stocks will last only a matter of days as panic buying sets in and Brits start stockpiling lightbulbs.