Incandescent bulbs are on their last legs in China.
The Asian country has been gradually reducing the sale of incandescent light bulb products over the last five years, ensuring that the outdated technology is soon replaced by something more advanced and profitable.
The new product on the market will be LED bulbs, as well as other LED products which are part of a growing market worldwide. This industry will reach sales amounting to $30.5 billion over the course of 2016.
LED products amount for 30% of all light bulb units in China. The phasing out of incandescent bulbs began on November 14, 2011, when China’s National Development and Reform Commission announced that retailers should eliminate the product over the subsequent 10 months.
Following that initiative, the first official ban occurred on Oct. 1, 2012 when sales of bulbs above the 100-watt range were discontinued. Two years later, products within the 60-watt and 99-watt ranges were removed.
The next step came over the following 12 months, when Chinese regulators evaluated the progress and used this time as an interim period to prepare themselves for the final move.
As of October 1, 2016, incandescent bulbs above the 15-watt range will be eliminated from all retailers, completing the five-year task set out by China’s National Development and Reform Commission.
The U.S. Department of Energy has begun a similar initiative due to the lower costs and reduced energy output of LED bulbs compared to incandescent ones. Expect incandescent bulbs to be gone in this country by 2020.
