White House Dims Lights On Efficiency

DOE Rollback of Energy-Saving Light Bulb Standards is Senseless and Illegal

Noah Horowitz, September 4, 2019 (Natural Resources Defense Council)

“…[The Department of Energy (DOE) will proceed with a roll of back energy-saving standards for everyday light bulbs that will lead to more electricity use and] higher energy bills for homes and businesses, plus significantly more pollution harming our health and the environment…The decision comes almost 12 years after President G. W. Bush and Congress passed legislation to phase out inefficient incandescent and halogen light bulbs by 2020, which would have cut consumer energy bills by billions of dollars and prevent millions of tons of carbon pollution…[Without any sound technical, economic, or legal justification, DOE] will delete the updated definition published in 2017 that brought several types of everyday light bulbs into the scope of this regulation…

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As a result, the billions of reflector bulbs in recessed cans and track lighting, the candle- shaped bulbs used in chandeliers and sconces, three-way bulbs, and round globe bulbs used in bathroom vanities will no longer have to meet the 2020 energy efficiency standards for light bulbs that should have gone into effect…[DOE will also not] update the efficiency standards as ordered by Congress back in 2007 for the bulbs that remained within the scope of the definition, such as the ubiquitous pear-shaped bulbs used throughout our homes. Bottom line: DOE is hell-bent on blocking the lighting energy efficiency standards from going into effect as scheduled on Jan. 1, 2020, despite the fact that yesterday’s bulbs are so much less energy efficient than the new LED bulbs that could replace them…” click here for more

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