There have been a number of changes in lighting market over the last several years. Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPact), and the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) were put into place to help Americans reduce the amount of energy used in lighting fixtures. Some of you, who may have purchased ceiling fans over the last year or so, have noticed different light bulbs packaged with your light.  These are some of the common applications that are already put into place by these pieces of legislation.

EISA will be the legislation that will transition us from using standard incandescent light bulbs to better energy efficient alternatives.  As mentioned in Section 321.

Affected Lamps

• General Service Incandescent Lamps (standard incandescent or halogen-type lamp)
• Medium screw base
• 310 to 2,600 lumens (40-100W in current wattages)
• 110 to 130 volts

All affected lamps listed above must meet the following criteria as noted below:

• Modified spectrum (See Better, Feel Better®) lamp lumen ranges are 25% lower.
• Minimum of 80 CRI except for modified spectrum, which have a minimum of 75 CRI.
• Candelabra base incandescent lamps shall not exceed 60 watts.
• Intermediate base incandescent lamps shall not exceed 40 watts.

Exemptions

Specialty Lamps including:

Appliance lamp, black light lamp, bug lamp, colored lamp, infrared lamp, left-hand thread lamp, marine lamp, marine signal service lamp, mine service lamp, plant light lamp, reflector lamp, rough service lamp, shatter-resistant lamp, sign service lamp, silver bowl lamp, showcase lamp, 3-way incandescent lamp, traffic signal lamp, vibration service lamp, G-shape lamp with a diameter of 5 inches or more, T-shape lamp of 40 watts or less and a length of more than 10 inches, and B, BA, CA, F, G16-1/2, G25, G30, S or M14 lamp of 40 watts or less.

What does this all mean?

We will have a few choices to use for standard house hold light bulbs between halogen, fluorescent, and LED. Each alternative has it’s pro and cons. Halogens will offer you a similar type of light output you would normally see with incandescent, and wattages will be easy to figure out as they are approximately 30% less. Halogens will produce more heat compared to fluorescent and LED, and will cost less but have a shorter bulb life.  The next option of fluorescent is becoming extremely popular right now.  Consumers are getting accustomed to some of the choices in color types and shapes. Fluorescents can now be purchased with the exposed glass spiral shape, or in an enclosed glass capsule that visually looks like its incandescent counterpart. Fluorescents are energy efficient, put off less heat, available in different colors, and are reasonable priced.  Fluorescent bulbs are found in soft white (2700K) and daylight (5000K). The downside to fluorescent is the mercury content. There are a number of places to dispose of them found on energystar.gov. LED’s (Light Emitting Diodes) are becoming available in more bulb types. LED’s are very energy efficient using almost a 1/10th of energy compared to incandescents. With LED’s you need to place close attention to the color temperature.  Lesser expensive LEDs right now are generally bluer than the more expensive ones. LED’s are a directional light source making them best choice for downlighting like recessed or undercabinet lights. LED’s have a long bulb life than the other options, but come with a higher price tag. LEDs have a slightly lower lumen per watt than fluorescent, so it may take a few more LEDs to get the same amount of light output of fluorescent.