Halogen lightbulbs will be banned across Europe from Sept 1, The Guardian reports.
Remaining stocks may be sold and there is an exemption on bulbs used for ovens, but the date will bring a slow end to the technology that brightened the continent for nearly 60 years.
Those in Europe will switch to light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, which will reduce emissions and slash energy bills, experts say.
LEDs consume five times less energy than halogen bulbs and the initiative will reduce carbon emissions by an estimated 15 million tonnes a year.
Light manufacturer Philips estimates the switchover will save consumers £112 a year as LEDs last longer and use less power than the halogen bulbs.
Halogen bulbs across the continent are currently cheaper than LEDs, but extrapolating those costs to indicate that the burden of consumers will rise is incorrect, Energy Savings Trust Product Manager Stewart Muir told The Guardian.
“A halogen bulb may be cheaper to buy in the first place but the electricity costs will be much more expensive, whereas an LED bulb will pay for itself within a year.”
Halogen bulbs last for two years on average, whereas LEDs have a life expectancy of 15-20 years.
According to 2012 figures from the UK government, the average British home has 10 halogen lamps and uses each bulb for approximately three hours a day.
Lighting emissions account for nearly 15 percent of the UK’s energy consumption costs, The Guardian reported.
“The science is clear,” said Eliot Whittington, who is part of the Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change.
“We can’t allow the human costs of climate change to reach the levels they will, if we fail to act. You ban things that threaten public safety and the wasteful use of energy is dangerous for us all in the end.”