At the beginning of September 2018, Swiss retailers stopped replacing their stocks of nearly all halogen light bulbs.
© Anna Krivitskaia | Dreamstime.com
Along with standard incandescent bulbs, which were forced from Swiss shop shelves in 2013, the sale of halogen bulbs will be banned from the end of August 2019. The only halogen bulbs that will remain on sale are the small R7 and G9 bulbs – there aren’t enough good alternatives for these yet.
Halogen bulbs are compact incandescent bulbs containing a halogen gas. The first ones were invented by an Englishman towards the end of the 19th century.
Switzerland’s ban on energy-hungry halogen bulbs will bring it into line with EU rules.
After the C and D rated halogen bulb disappears, consumers will be left with a choice of fluorescent and LED bulbs.
In 2016, 51% of the 30 million bulbs sold in Switzerland were halogen, making them the most popular choice ahead of LED (23%) and fluorescent (20%) ones, according to the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE).
Something to watch out for when choosing bulbs is their level of blue light. Blue light can disrupt evening production of melatonin and disrupt sleep. Studies have found possible links to certain diseases.
Incandescent bulbs, including halogen ones, typically produce less blue light than LED or fluorescent bulbs, so try to choose specially designed ones with low blue light for nighttime places like bedrooms – this image shows the light spectrum of various bulbs, knowledge you can use to dazzle your local light retailer.
Blue-light-blocking glasses are another option for those looking for a fashion-based solution.
More on this:
SFOE statistics (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
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