World / bulbs EU Will Ban Incandescent Bulbs Capacity might be only speed bump to quick switch to CFLs By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff Posted Jun 19, 2008 2:07 PM CDT Copied School children walk past a huge "Ban the Bulb" banner put up by Greenpeace environmental activists in Calcutta, India, Thursday, April 19, 2007. (AP Photo/Bikas Das) The European Union is set to begin phasing out the incandescent light bulb in favor of compact fluorescent bulb, Der Spiegel reports. The highest-wattage bulbs will go next year; the transition to CFLs—using a fifth of the energy and lasting 10 times longer—should be complete in 2015. (More bulbs stories.) Report an error