In my humble opinion its about time. Of course I am talking about the Australian government’s plan to phase out incandescent light bulbs and replace them with more energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs across the country. Legislation will gradually restrict the sale of the old-style bulbs and hopes to convince state and territory governments to introduce energy performance standards that would lead to the replacement of standard light bulbs with more efficient but more expensive alternatives such as compact fluorescent lights.

This is not the first time a ban such as this has occured in a country. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, announced his own program to save energy and gave away millions of fluorescent bulbs in neighbourhoods nationwide. Cuba’s Fidel Castro launched a similar program two years ago, sending youth brigades into homes and switching out regular bulbs for energy-saving ones to help battle electrical blackouts around the island.

** I should note that CFL’s contain small amounts of mercury.