The European Commission formally adopted new regulations on Wednesday that will effectively phase out incandescent light bulbs in Europe by 2012.
The switch to energy-efficient lamps for homes, offices, streets and factories, officials said, would generate energy savings equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of Belgium – or the yearly output of 20 power stations of 500 megawatts.
For their part, consumers would save 11 billion euros — or $14 billion — each year that they otherwise would have spent on energy bills.
The European energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs said the goal was “replacing last century lighting products” with technologies that “will keep the same quality of lighting, while saving energy, CO2 and money.”
After 2012, consumers in Europe will have two choices: high-efficiency halogen lamps, which can yield energy savings of up to 50 percent compared to conventional incandescents; or compact fluorescent lamps, or C.F.L.s, which can provide up to 75 percent savings over conventional light bulbs.