Just read an interesting article from BBC news on our UK lighting site, halogen lamps are to be banned from sale here this September (21), and fluorescent tubes in 2023.

Just read an interesting article from BBC news on our UK lighting site, halogen lamps are to be banned from sale here this September (21), and fluorescent tubes in 2023.

What I know is that the T12 and T8 format are going to be banned. Not the T5 HE/HO types. At least in mainland Europe. Correct if I’m wrong.

What about Halogen lamps for Entertainment and Traffic?

What I know is that the T12 and T8 format are going to be banned. Not the T5 HE/HO types. At least in mainland Europe. Correct if I’m wrong.

What about Halogen lamps for Entertainment and Traffic?

Is it also true that CFL lamps will be banned in European countries as well such as PL-C, 2D, PL-L, and PL-S?

Just read an interesting article from BBC news on our UK lighting site, halogen lamps are to be banned from sale here this September (21), and fluorescent tubes in 2023.

Deep joy. Still, we have enough for our needs, I think. And it will hopefully still be a while longer before eBay sellers run out. Unless there is now a mad panic buying session, of course 

Just read an interesting article from BBC news on our UK lighting site, halogen lamps are to be banned from sale here this September (21), and fluorescent tubes in 2023.

What I know is that the T12 and T8 format are going to be banned. Not the T5 HE/HO types. At least in mainland Europe. Correct if I’m wrong.

What about Halogen lamps for Entertainment and Traffic?

Is it also true that CFL lamps will be banned in European countries as well such as PL-C, 2D, PL-L, and PL-S?

Well that escalated quickly... 

I thought fluorescent lamps were pretty efficient. Or did I miss something?    Or maybe the idea is to get rid of mercury as I speculated earlier.

Well that escalated quickly... 

I thought fluorescent lamps were pretty efficient. Or did I miss something?    Or maybe the idea is to get rid of mercury as I speculated earlier.

Didn't think there was any mercury in halogen lamps     Efficiency has nothing to do with it, neither has mercury or anything else; the idea, in case you hadn't realised yet, is to get rid of everything that isn't L*D 

Well, as has been said, stock up now, for tomorrow may be too late 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57407233
Here’s the link, doesn’t go into too much detail, as for traffic signal use, not sure about other county’s but all the ones here are already LED, and I think it’s more for the domestic side?, it may not effect studio lighting?
eBay?, not sure about this?, if their banned from retail sales then wouldn’t that effect eBay?, but saying that it hasn’t stopped the sales of mercury lamps on there?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-57407233
Here’s the link, doesn’t go into too much detail, as for traffic signal use, not sure about other county’s but all the ones here are already LED, and I think it’s more for the domestic side?, it may not effect studio lighting?
eBay?, not sure about this?, if their banned from retail sales then wouldn’t that effect eBay?, but saying that it hasn’t stopped the sales of mercury lamps on there?

Well eBay has never cared much about things like that; look at the container-loads of cheap crap it sells from certain far eastern locations. As long as they get their cut they don't seem to care what people sell, so I don't see why proper lamps shouldn't be available there while sellers have stocks. Although with the way they've totally screwed up the payments system, particularly for small private sellers, how long it will be before they desert the sinking ship is anyone's guess 

I just had to cringe when all those people in that article went on about how wonderful L*D's are and how they'll outlast everything under the sun, and probably that as well 

Don’t suppose it matters to the people pushing the agenda!, probably why eBay is altering things too?, don’t know, I’ve never used eBay for anything or corporate goons like amazon!
But with everything closing, I suppose it will end up mandatory in years to come! 

Is it also true that CFL lamps will be banned in European countries as well such as PL-C, 2D, PL-L, and PL-S?

I reckon the PL line is safe for now?, their saying ‘high powered’ fluorescent, but you never know here, if something like the LPS lamp can disappear, who knows what they care about CFL?

I would guess that within a few years or so, if HID lamps become banned throughout the world, E39 and E40 lampholders will quickly become as rare as hen’s teeth as more and more integrated LED fixtures will take over the whole world.

Where I live it hasn't...I just converted two wallpacks on my garage to 50W/C110!

All I can say is I am glad I embraced my lighting interest and collected what I could afford to, years ago (though I wish I had started doing it when I was younger). Even more than that, getting together with other collectors & enthusiasts and cruising around looking at the remaining incandescent, mercury, fluorescent and other interesting old lighting was wonderful and memorable and I am very happy I had the opportunity to see and photograph many installations that are no longer there. Driving down a main thoroughfare lit exclusively by clear mercury lamps is a magical experience the younger generations will never experience.

I never expected the LED takeover to be quite this fast. It was bad enough with the start of bulb bans and mercury, incandescent and T12 fluorescents going away, but LED has obliterated all other types of light sources and the conversion is happening as frighteningly fast as climate change. I no longer have an interest to go out and search for old lights, or go to the store to buy lamps. I basically consider myself out of the hobby other than maintaining the fixtures that I have at home, and posting old photos. My goal now is just to keep my home lighting working and avoiding converting ANY HID or fluorescent fixtures to LED (I do use LEDs in battery-powered and low-lumen lights or for special effects).

Aside from that I still like designing with light and am happy to help people improve or maintain their lighting of any type, but I get no joy looking at streetlights turning on, or identifying roadway fixtures or trying to see what kind of LED tubes or corn cobs are retrofitted into a fixture now. I could care less. The LED takeover took away my joy and I'm very glad I didn't decide to work in the lighting industry as it would make me too sad now. Though the state of the planet now and the greed and the stupidity of humans also make me sad. The good news is I am not tempted to walk into the lighting department at Home Depot any more than I want to walk into the plumbing or lumber department.

I think we’re the very lucky ones, those of us that were born in the 70s and grew up in the 80s, we saw the heyday of lighting?
Remember when you were very young, like 9/10 and had an interest in electrical things, most lighting in home is basic, a bed side table lamp with a 40 watt GLS lamp!, but the interesting thing is in the kitchen, a fluorescent batten, and as someone under 10 years old, it’s a mystery!, a long tube that flashes at start and makes all sorts of clicking and buzzing noises!
Your inquisitive young mind wants to know how this works?

But a bigger mystery is outside in the street, the totally alien world of the discharge lamp!, the forbidden holy grail of the lighting world you don’t know what these weird bulbs are that switch on red in colour, then magically turn orange all on their own!
You don’t know what they are, you’re dad doesn’t know what they are, neither does grandad, but he thinks their call ‘sodium’ bulbs?
You wander the streets each night while playing out, watching all these mysterious lights coming on, your frustrated, you yearn to know how this happens, but can’t find it in books, or even begin to think where this information is held?, all you can do is just watch them from the ground!

Then one summer holiday, while staying with your auntie Christine,  your cousin Jonny suggests visiting the council yard next door?, you follow, without knowing exactly what this ‘council yard’ is until you walk through the gate and your world stops……

OMG OMG OMG, THERES A BIG PILE OF OLD STREET LIGHTS RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES……..
You can’t comprehend what you’re seeing!, you can look at them right in front of you, you can touch them, you can open the lanterns that are still attached!, and then, BOOM, there it is!, one of them sodium bulbs!, there’s a thousand things running through your head as you unplug it, you have never seen one so close, the fancy shape of the U tube, the green and red tinted glass, the funny little springy things at the bottom, there’s no filament, how the hell does this thing work?, it’s so alien to you, but now you have one, now you’re lighting journey begins!

This is my story, and I have to thank my cousin Jonny for it, but like arcblue says, it’s sad that many young people interested in electrical things are never going to experience this ever again!

Yeah, agreed. I got into collecting lighting around the mid 2000s when the writing was already on the wall for older technologies like MV and T12. Given how quickly LED seemed to have taken over, I think I'm a bit fortunate to see the last of the small towns with MV installs. Same goes for the last of the SOX installs here. T12, T8, MH, and HPS was plentiful at the time. I also got to see some alternate tech such as induction and eHID being tried in the late 2000s before LED took over. I also remember when most of the traffic signals here used to use incandescent lamps and then slowly but surely LED took over. Now there's only a couple of intersections I know of that still have incandescent signals.

My area is still fortunately somewhat HID as Toronto has yet to undergo a systemwide conversion to LED so there's a lot of HPS and MH left but I imagine a few years down the line those will be gone too. Same goes for the few private building that still have MV in use and T12.