Hamburg - With a ban on energy-wasting incandescent light bulbs in the European Union due to take effect from September 1, anxious German consumers are stocking up on the traditional lamps.

Hardware stores up and down the country are reporting a massive increase in sales of the electric light bulb perfected by American scientist Thomas Edison 130 years ago.

There are numerous instances of hoarding, or what the Germans call "hamster buying," by worried consumers as retailers gear up to stop selling the old lamps in favour of greener, energy-saving flourescent bulbs. The move is in line with EU plans to save energy.

Some customers have been buying supermarket trolleyloads of the regular 100-watt light bulbs which will soon no longer be available.

"It really is amazing. Sales of 100-watt bulbs in our Hamburg stores have gone up by 337 per cent," Simone Naujoks, a spokeswoman for the Max Bahr chain of hardware stores in the northern port city told the Die Welt newspaper. She said customers were opting for king- sized packages of 60 or more bulbs which would probably last them for years.

Ironically, Max Bahr has just finished refurbishing its lighting department in time for the low-energy light bulb era but it seems many customers are not interested: "My eyes are not as good as they used to be and I find these energy-saving lamps are useless for reading," said one man in his early 50s, browsing the shelves.

The phasing out of traditional light bulbs is set to take place in stages: First to go from September 1, 2009 are the 100-watt bulbs followed by all kinds of frosted glass incandescent bulbs, high- powered halogen lamps and low-efficiency flourescents.

By the end of 2012 all the 75 watt and 60 watt incandescent bulbs will have vanished from the shops too.

"We've seen a lot of hoarding," Ulrike Neugebeuer who runs a electrical retailers in the town of Bad Schwalmbach near Wiesbaden, told ZDF television. "Elderly people in particular are worried about the changes."

The EU ban adopted in March is seen by many German consumers as a trick by the manufacturers to boost their profits by replacing the universally-cheap incandescent bulbs with more expensive energy- saving ones.

Critics say the newer flourescent (CFL) bulbs are not bright enough and give off a colder, less-comforting light. They claim the CFLs are slow to power up and flicker more often, causing headaches. There are worries too about possible radiation and the correct disposal of the small amounts of mercury which the bulbs contain.

The EU says energy-saving lamps will cut annual CO2 emissions in Europe by 15 million tons and experts agree that consumers who switch to energy-saving lamps stand to save hundreds of euros (dollars) a year in electricity costs.

After all, the incandescent lamp is a proven climate-killer, with only 5 per cent of the power consumed being used for light production. The rest is given off as heat.

Writing in the left-leaning taz daily newspaper, columnist Bernward Janzing criticised the apparent German loathing for energy- saving light bulbs: "The whole thing is very emotive. People who stock up on these light bulbs feel as if they are rebelling against authority but actually they are displaying an inability to cope with change."

European consumer sales statistics meanwhile indicate that enthusiasm for the old-fashioned light bulb may be a purely German phenomemon.

Overall light bulbs sales in Germany shot up by 17 per cent in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the Netherlands where they sank by 34.5 per cent. Sales of light bulbs were down in Britain over the same period too (minus 22.5 per cent) and in France where 8.6 per cent fewer citizens invested in new light sources. (dpa)