Halogen Lights will Disappear from Australian Retail Stores in the Future

The Australian Lighting Association, which is Australia's largest lighting industry organization, recently announced that as the world entered the LED lighting era, they would replace halogen downlights with LED, and halogen lights would disappear from Australian retail stores in the future.

A new regulation, which was applicable to the promotion and application of next-generation LED power efficient light bulbs technology in Australia, was passed at the Council of Government of Australia (COAG) Energy Committee Ministerial Meeting. The Australian Lighting Association warmly welcomed this.

In the highly competitive global market environment, the lighting industry still provides employment opportunities for up to 4,500 manufacturing companies throughout Australia. However, the industry has also been facing a significant increase in compliance costs. The new compliance costs arise from the need to apply the Commonwealth Environment Department bill to Australian federal law.

"The early-stage proposal was a disaster," explained Richard Mulcahy, the CEO of the Australian Lighting Association. "Some cumbersome regulations have added up to $80 million in additional costs and reduced employment opportunities in this industry. However, we should know that the lighting industry is one of the few vibrant manufacturing industries in Australia."

Minister Frydenberg saw the problems in the proposal and guided his department to re-formulate the policy based on consulting and understanding the real situation of the industry. The final proposal recently passed by COAG is a very reasonable rule for Australia, which has compromised some controversies to make Australian regulations be in consistence with relevant overseas regulations. In addition, Minister Frydenberg has taken a significant step in reducing Australian household electricity bills, Mr. Mulcahy praised that when referring to his agreement on banning halogen lights. It is estimated that replacing halogen downlights with LEDs will save Australian consumers $10 billion in the next decade.

The power consumption of halogen lights is 3-5 times that of the new generation of LED power efficient light bulbs. As an industry dedicated to achieving results on environmental protection issues, we are pleased to be able to play a major role in reducing the pressure on the budget of families and businesses.