Yesterday the Australian government announced that it will ban incandescent light bulbs in three years in a bid to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Estimates show that eliminating the incandescent bulbs will cut 800,000 tonnes from the country’s current emissions level by 2012.

Following the announcement by Australia, government officials in the Canadian province of Ontario said they too are considering an incandescent ban. By switching to compact fluorescent bulbs they feel they can shut down the province’s coal burning power plants.

I switched many of the bulbs in my house over to compact fluorescent about a year and a half ago. Besides the energy savings they provide I like the cleaner, white light they put out. The only thing stopping me from eliminating incandescent bulbs all together is that there are still some fixtures that require decorative bulbs and there aren’t compact fluorescents that work in all of those fixtures yet. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.

If you still rely entirely on incandescent bulbs then I’d like to challenge you to switch just one room in your house over to compact fluorescent bulbs and see if you like it. After you make the switch I guarantee you’ll be changing out the rest of your bulbs in no time at all.