BY ELLIE DEES
More than 140 years after Thomas Edison patented his version of the incandescent lightbulb, the Biden administration’s Energy Department has established two new rules that will end their production in the United States by 2023.
The first rule revises the definition of general service lamps while the second creates an efficiency standard of 45 lumens per watt for those lamps. This essentially will amount to a ban on production of less efficient incandescent and halogen bulbs in favor of LEDs and some compact fluorescent bulbs.
For manufacturers, full enforcement of the rules begins Jan. 1. Distributors and retailers will then have up to 7 months to reduce their stock levels.
The lightbulb rollback is expected to reduce carbon emissions in the U.S., while saving consumers money in the long term by forcing them to use more energy efficient, longer-lasting light products.
The transition is long in the making. President George W. Bush made energy savings from lightbulbs a national goal in 2007. Energy efficiency standards that would have banned the incandescent bulb two years ago were rolled back in 2019 by President Donald J. Trump, who said they were not “economically justified.” At the time, he notably complained about LEDs to fellow lawmakers, saying: “The light’s no good. I always look orange.”
Of course, LEDs are far more efficient than incandescent bulbs. And fear not! Quality LED fixtures offered by architectural lighting companies like Acolyte also provide far superior color rendering, which means you see colors as they’re meant to be seen, in clothing, skin tones, furniture, art and more!
