歐盟禁用白熾燈泡 引發搶購風

Germans, who sometimes see themselves as guardians of the environment, are hoarding energy-guzzling incandescent light bulbs ahead of a looming European Union-wide ban, the GfK market research agency said.

The Nuremberg-based GfK reported sales of incandescent bulbs had soared about 35 percent in the first half of the year ahead of a ban that starts Tuesday -- even though it was proposed by German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel in 2007.

Some German retailers said they have seen sales of 100-watt incandescent bulbs soar 600 percent since the end of July.

The EU is planning to phase out use of the incandescent bulbs as part of its push to save energy, cut greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change. From Tuesday the light bulbs above 75 watts can no longer be produced or imported in the EU.

The ban will be expanded each year and by 2012 production and importing of all incandescent bulbs will be prohibited.

The EU Commission projects the ban on the energy-inefficient bulbs will save about 40 terawatt hours of energy in the EU per year -- enough to meet the energy demands of a small country.

The idea to ban incandescent bulbs came from Gabriel in 2007 when Germany held the EU's rotating presidency. The German said the switch to energy saving bulbs could save about 25 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.

據捷孚凱市場諮詢公司日前介紹，在歐盟即將禁用白熾燈泡之際，時不時標榜自己爲環保衛士的德國人卻在囤積這種高能耗的燈泡。

總部位於紐倫堡的捷孚凱公司報告稱，在歐盟實施這項禁令之前，德國白熾燈泡的銷量今年上半年大增約35%——儘管這一議案是1997年由德國環境部長西格馬爾•加布里爾提出的。該禁令已於本週二生效。

德國一些零售商表示，自七月底以來，100瓦白熾燈泡的銷量猛增六倍。

歐盟正計劃逐步禁止白熾燈泡的使用，這是其節能減排、應對氣候變化的措施之一。從本週二起，歐盟將禁止75瓦以上燈泡的生產或進口。

該計劃將逐年推進。到2012年，所有白熾燈泡的生產和進口將被禁止。

據歐盟委員會預計，禁用高能耗的白熾燈泡每年將爲歐盟節省約40太瓦時的電能，這足以滿足一個小國的用電需求。

禁用白熾燈泡的建議是加布里爾於2007年、德國擔任歐盟輪值主席國其間提出的。這位德國人稱，改用節能燈泡每年可減少約2500萬噸二氧化碳的排放。

Vocabulary:

hoard：to accumulate for preservation, future use（囤積，儲藏）

loom: t o seem imminent; impend（逼近）

phase out：to bring or come to an end gradually; ease out of service（逐步淘汰，逐漸停止）