European Lamp Companies Federation

European Environmental Bureau conference on lamps

The European Environmental Bureau (EEB), a federation of over 142 environmental citizens’ organisations in the EU, has organised a conference "Mercury containing lamps under the spotlight" on 27 June 2008 in Brussels. The programme of the conference included presentations from the European Commission on the actions related to energy saving lamps, lamp manufacturers (General Electric, Osram, Philips and Sylvania) and the Secretary General of the ELC on the content of mercury in lamps, as well as Member States and experts on lamp collection and recycling issues. The presentations were followed by a panel discussion.

The ELC member companies have committed to reducing quantities of mercury in energy efficient lamps below the limits currently required under the RoHS Directive. Speaking at a conference, the ELC Secretary General Mr. Gerald Strickland has pointed out that different mercury limits are needed depending on the technical characteristics of each lamp group concerned (such as technology, phosphor, size, length, wattage, lifetime, production process, dosing technology, purpose, etc). If mercury limits are too ambitious, this could for instance result in a reduction of the lamp’s life, leading to higher mercury consumption overall.

If you would like to download the ELC or our member companies’ presentations, please click on the following links:

"Industry position", Mr Gerald Strickland, ELC Secretary General

"Mercury containing lamps under the spotlight: the Philips perspective", Mr Frank Altena, Sustainability Officer, Philips

"The future of Hg-containing lamps", Mr Laszlo Balazs, Manager, GE

From the left: Mr. Gerald Strickland (ELC Secretary General), Mr. Gernot Schnabl (European Commission), Mr. Stefan Scheuer (EEB and Chair)

From the left: Mr. Rudy Geens (Havells Sylvania), Mr. Gernot Schnabl (European Commission), Mr. Stefan Scheuer (EEB and Chair), Mr. Frank Altena (Philips Lighting), Mr. Wolfgang Gregor (Osram)

ELC at the Light+Building 2008 in Frankfurt

The 5th Light+Building trade fair was held from 6 to 11 April 2008 in Frankfurt am Main. All ELC member companies were represented at this international trade fair for architecture and technology. A wide range of products and services in the fields of lighting, electrical engineering and building automation was presented by over 2000 exhibitors.

Energy efficiency was the main theme of the fair, and it was fully supported by all ELC member companies, which showed a huge variety of energy-saving lighting solutions. At the same time, technology was well combined with design. Solid State Lighting (LEDs) was to be seen at almost every exhibition stand.

ELC at the press conference with the Professional Lighting Designer's Association (PLDA)

From the left: Mr. Axel Baschnagel (Vice President of the ELC Board),
Ms. Barbara Manka (ELC Project Manager),
Mr. Gerald Strickland (ELC Secretary General)

European Union Sustainable Energy Week 2008

The ELC has recently participated in the EUSEW 2008 (European Union Sustainable Energy Week 2008) which has been held in Brussels, from 28th January to 1st February.

It has organised a conference which, under the title "Driving energy efficiency in the lighting market", has analyzed the challenges that the lighting industry is facing nowadays with a view to achieving high energy efficiency levels. The efforts that the lighting industry is doing, as well as the EU legislation that can contribute towards this, have been presented.

Gerald Strickland, Secretary General of the ELC; Andras Toth, Policy Officer in DG TREN; and Stéphanie Mittelham, Secretary General of CELMA, chaired this conference that took place on Wednesday 30th January.

If you want to download their presentations, please click on the following links:

"Energy efficiency in the European lighting industry", by Gerald Strickland, ELC, Secretary General

"European legislative instruments, a tool to achieve energy efficiency", by Andras Toth, Unit D/3, DG TREN

"How we deploy our message in the EU", by Stéphanie Mittelham, CELMA, Secretary General

For more information, go to the EUSEW 2008 official website: http://www.eusew.eu