President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has announced plans to phase out incandescent bulbs by January 2010, in a move to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and cut household energy costs. Speaking at the 2008 Philippine Energy Summit she said "Like Australia we should phase out incandescent bulbs by 2010," according to reports in the International Herald Tribune.

The Asian Development Bank played a key role in the move, acting as technical advisor to the summit and assisting the Philippine Department of Energy in developing plans to address climate change. The bank is also considering a US$30 mil loan that would fund programmes dedicated to energy efficiency, which could include grants for low-income families to facilitate the change to CFLs.

While incandescent bulbs are more expensive, they use five times as much energy as compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs). The payback period, taking electricity costs into account, is roughly one year and CFLs last six to ten years longer than incandescent bulbs. According to the Asian Development Bank "The switch to CFLs will result in household lighting costs falling by as much as 80 percent, and the country's annual greenhouse gas emissions falling two million metric tons starting in 2010."

Although Monica Burbit, Chief Executive of the Global Environment Facility, announced at the Reuters Environmental Summit in Washington in October last year that China had agreed to phase out incandescent bulbs, no official announcement has been forthcoming. Australia was the first to confirm its commitment to ending the use of incandescent bulbs last year, followed by a number of western countries. RFP