Incandescent lamps still have a market in Croatia

The European Union banned the production and import of incandescent light bulbs on September 1. Croatia, as a country that has signed an accession agreement, should of course follow the footsteps of the European Union. However, since Croatia does not become a full member of the European Union until July 2013, relevant laws and regulations also allow for a certain transition period in Croatia.

The reporter visited several large supermarkets and small residential convenience stores in the capital of Zagreb. In large supermarkets, incandescent lamps and new energy-saving lamps are almost half on the counter. In a convenience store, about four-fifths are ordinary incandescent lamps. A salesperson at a large supermarket told the reporter that although they were affected by EU regulations, they also received notices to gradually reduce the sale of incandescent lamps, but customers seemed to have little interest in energy-saving lamps. There are many reasons for this. The biggest reason is price. According to the reporter's observation, the prices of ordinary 40-watt and 60-watt incandescent lamps are around 4kku (1kuna equals 1 yuan), and the price of 25-watt energy-saving lamps with luminous efficiency equivalent to 60w is around 40kau. The price of energy-saving lamps is generally about 10 times that of incandescent lamps. A customer who is just looking for a light bulb said that although the use cost of energy-saving lamps is much lower than that of incandescent lamps, because the price is much higher, they must be considered when purchasing.

The average salary income level for Croatia in July was 5,400 kuna, and a lightbulb for 40 kuna was not too high for the average family. However, as Croatia is experiencing the worst economic crisis since independence, many families are stretched, and according to statistics, daily consumption expenditures of Croatian households have fallen for 10 consecutive months since 2011. So at this time, the energy-saving lights that are a little expensive are not yet on the housewife's shopping list. In addition, incandescent lamps and energy-saving lamps seem to have different advantages on different occasions. For example, customers reflect that in the kitchens and bathrooms, people's habits are to start activities when they turn on the lights. However, when the energy-saving lamp is just energized, the brightness of the light is small, and this requirement cannot be satisfied. On the contrary, in the bedroom, the slowly increasing brightness of the energy-saving lamps can give people who are awakening a certain reaction time.

Of course, with Croatia becoming a full member of the European Union next year, it is inevitable that incandescent lamps will accomplish their historical mission. Therefore, the Croatian media are now continuing to promote the benefits of energy-saving lamps and call on the people to change their usage habits in order to raise the level of environmental protection. For example, the media focuses on energy-saving lamps because of its high luminous efficiency and low heat generation. Therefore, the service life can generally reach 6 to 10 years, while the incandescent lamp's service life will not exceed 1 year. In addition, the cost of electricity for energy-saving lamps is undoubtedly several times lower than that of incandescent lamps. Due to the continuous increase in electricity prices, after comprehensive calculation, in Croatia, after more than two years of use of an energy-saving light bulb, it has begun to have an economic advantage over ordinary light bulbs.