Legislations and standards

Light at night can disrupt our biological clock and therefore our health. Animals are also impacted. To combat this, the French government has decided to tighten its regulations on night lighting.

Until now, only two decrees, one from 2013 on indoor lighting for offices and shop windows and another from 2012 on advertising and signs, helped limit this nuisance.

From January 1st, 2021, these restrictions will be extended to certain places such as parking lots and construction sites. Heritage buildings, parks and gardens can be lit from sunset until 1 AM at the latest, or one hour after closing for parks.

A project also planned to regulate street lamp lighting time but it was eventually abandoned.

Circadian technology that reproduces natural light cycles can particularly be a solution to fight against this light pollution.

To learn more about this technology, click here

Why ban halogen bulbs?

• Halogen bulbs use 90 to 95% of energy for heat transformation rather than light production. LED bulbs use virtually no energy for this transformation, which will result in significantly reducing our energy consumption.
• LED bulbs have a much longer lifespan than halogen bulbs: up to 25 years of use for LED bulbs compared to 3 years for halogen bulbs (based on 3 hours of use per day). This makes LED a much more sustainable product and therefore limits the amount of waste.
• The replacement should help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

How much will it cost for consumers?

When choosing a bulb, we tend to choose halogen bulbs which are often the cheapest. But this calculation isn't necessarily rational because a low energy consumption bulb with a longer lifespan allows for significant savings in the medium term. On average, LED technology saves up to 85% on lighting bills, according to a study reported by Les Echos.

Moreover, the price of LED bulbs has dropped significantly, which further closes the debates on the transition.