"I'm just an ordinary guy, and it seemed like a no-brainer to me, an easy thing to do," he said. "Not only does it make sense from a green perspective, it also saves us money."

With electricity prices up sharply to around 11 pence (US$0.212) per kilowatt/hour in Britain and 20 euro cents (US$0.263) per kWh in mainland Europe, running 15 old-fashioned hot bulbs costs the average household 200 euros per year, a figure which can be cut by 150 euros or more.

"When I called the electricity company, they told me how surprised they were about my low energy bill," Butcher said.

Political leaders and bulb makers last week urged the European Union to come up with plans to boost the popularity of energy-saving lighting, but despite high import tariffs it already makes financial sense.

Energy-saving bulbs, which have a fluorescent tube rather than a filament, can be bought in most European countries for less than two euros apiece, compared with up to 20 euros 10 years ago. And they last up to five times longer than old-fashioned bulbs.

"You're stealing from your own wallet if you don't buy these energy-saving lamps," said Henry de Gooijer, a project manager and consultant at Ecostream in the Netherlands.

CLIMATE CHANGE BILL

The British government published a climate change bill on Tuesday setting targets for carbon dioxide emission cuts which could make the country the first to limit greenhouse gases by law. Part of the plan is to phase out high-energy bulbs.

Producers estimate that around 2.1 billion energy-inefficient bulbs are sold every year, mainly for homes, and around 3.6 billion are in use.

If Europeans cut the energy consumed by home lighting by just 50 percent, they could save approximately 23 megatons of CO2, equal to the output of 27 power plants and electricity costs of 7 billion euros.

Butcher dismissed complaints that low-energy bulbs are dimmer. "My wife had to get used to the fact that when you switch them on, they're not as bright right away. But after 60 seconds or so they're as bright as a normal bulb," he said.

But as one technology reduces carbon emissions, others are still pushing them up. Electricity consumption is rising 2-3 percent a year in most European countries, driven by new appliances like computers, set-top boxes, electric toothbrushes, mobile phones and kitchen appliances.

Many are left on standby. Set-top boxes left switched on, for instance, can consume as much as 60 watts per hour.

Cable company Liberty Global said it was working with producers to solve the problem.

"We're discussing with our vendors the next generation of set-top boxes that would consume significantly less power," said a spokesman for Europe's top cable company.