by Worldchanging Canada local blogger, Rod Edwards:
The Trendhunter mega-blog points to a CBC report on Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty's announcement that normal incandescent bulbs will be banned in Ontario by 2012. The move mirror's Australia's similar legislation, whose ban will be effective as of 2011.
The latest to act: The Ontario government announced yesterday it will ban the sale of the old incandescent bulbs by 2012 in a bid to help curb global warming. The province said that replacing all the roughly 87 million incandescent bulbs in Ontario homes with compact fluorescents or other efficient lighting could cut electricity demand by six million megawatt hours over the course of a year, enough to power 600,000 households. [CBC]
The question I have is why more activist legislation of this type doesn't take place. Whether it's toilet flush volume, shower head flow, vehicular emissions, or the banning of lead in paint, legislation is often required to positively change an industry's direction and reduce externalities for which economic cost is unquantifiable or hidden. It is good to see Ontario setting the pace in Canada, and setting a precedent for green, people-focused legislation.
