After last week's amazing news that Ireland is going to ban inefficient light bulbs in early 2009, we thought it was time to give our own government a squeeze on the issue. The speed at which our neighbour across the Irish Sea will be ditching incandescent bulbs has shown just how ineffective London has been so far.
Not only does Ireland now join the likes of Australia, Venezuela and Cuba who have already laid down bulb legislation, it also proves our own government is dragging its feet. Earlier this year, a voluntary phase-out of inefficient bulbs by the end of 2011 was announced which even at the time was pretty rubbish. Thousands of small retailers aren't covered by the scheme so incandescent bulbs will still be on sale beyond that date. Ireland's tough new legislation now makes this initiative look even more feeble.
If you think we can do much better in this country, write to Joan Ruddock MP at the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) - as parliamentary under-secretary with special responsibility for climate change, she has a big say in putting forward legislation.
It's not just the government that's being obstructive - manufacturers are also taking their own sweet time. The European Lamp Companies Federation, representing giants such as General Electric (GE) and Philips, has laid out plans for getting rid of all energy-wasting bulbs sometime after 2017 (pdf). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said that greenhouse gas emissions need to peak by 2015 at the latest, so this is just far, far too late.
Our government has produced plenty of impressive rhetoric about being a world leader in tackling climate change: in his recent speech, Gordon Brown talked of 80 per cent cuts in emissions by 2050. Great, but that isn't going to happen unless his government starts making tough decisions on energy production and efficiency now. Taking inefficient light bulbs out of circulation is the thin end of the wedge for introducing minimum energy efficiency standards across the board.
So before you head off for Christmas, please write to Joan Ruddock - it will only take a couple of minutes - and hopefully we'll be following in Ireland's footsteps very soon.