In 2007, the Canadian federal government announced that starting in January, 2012, incandescent light bulbs would be phased out in order to reduce energy consumption. Just recently, the government proposed an amendment to the Energy Efficiency Regulation so that the phase-out of incandescent bulbs will be postponed for two years. This was prompted by concerns in the media and the public about perceived health and mercury issues, including safe disposal of florescent light bulbs (“CFL’s”). However, as Health Canada has indicated that with respect to ultraviolet radiation and electromagnetic transmissions, CFL’s do not pose a health risk, the government intends to use the next two years to communicate with the public that CFL’s do not pose a health risk and to allow more programs dealing with the disposal of CFL’s to be established.
Even though the mandatory phase-out of incandescent bulbs has been delayed, from a practical perspective many Canadians, including many condominium corporations, have voluntarily been transitioning to CFL’s. We expect that in an effort to reduce common expenses, many condominium corporations have already made the switch to CFL’s – for those that haven’t they now have more time to complete the transition.