Moving forward with a plan to phase out traditional incandescent and halogen light bulbs from the European marketplace by 2012, on Sept. 1, the European Union enacted new energy efficiency requirements on lamp sales. Now banned: 100W conventional incandescent bulbs. In their place will be more energy-efficient options such as incandescent bulbs with halogen technology, compact fluorescent lamps and light-emitting diodes.

The ban is one component of a larger initiative that aims to reduce the EU’s primary energy use by 20 percent by 2020. The ban is predicted to save 40 TWh by 2020, the equivalent of 11 million European households’ energy use for the same time period. It also is expected to reduce up to 15 million tons of CO2 emissions annually.

Other wattage levels will be addressed by the intiative from now through the end of 2012. Conventional 60W bulbs will remain available until September 2011, while 40W and 25W bulbs will be available until September 2012. More information can be found online at e-lumen.eu.