Toshiba Lighting & Technology Corp has decided to terminate the manufacturing of general incandescent light bulbs and stop all the relevant production lines in about 2010. This move is aimed at reducing CO₂ emissions, the company said.

The company produced approximately 40 million general incandescent bulbs in fiscal 2006. Following the termination of the production, Toshiba Lighting can reduce its current CO₂ emissions roughly 500,000t per year in 2010, according to its estimates. The company will promote the business that replaces incandescent light bulbs with other energy-saving products such as bulb-shaped fluorescent lamps and LED lighting systems from now on.

General incandescent light bulbs that the company will stop manufacturing are 81 models including E26 base ball-shaped bulbs. However, as for certain general incandescent light bulbs for light control and other purposes, which cannot be fulfilled by bulb-shaped fluorescent lamps, the company is planning to continue the sale of small amounts for the time being. General bulbs that cannot be replaced with fluorescent lamps are halogen and reflective lamps, for example.

Toshiba Lighting commercialized incandescent light bulbs 120 years ago and began to manufacture fluorescent lamps in 1940. It commercialized bulb-shaped fluorescent lamps in 1980 and has since been proposing the replacement of incandescent light bulbs. It has sold approximately 120 million bulb-shaped fluorescent lamps to date, the company said.