New federal energy efficiency regulations went into full effect Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.
The Energy Department rules, which date back to the Obama administration, have been whipsawed in the political process for years. Some conservatives and Republican lawmakers denounced them for interfering with consumer choice and placing undue burdens on business. Under former President Donald Trump, the Energy Department scrapped them in 2019; the Biden administration subsequently revived them.
The rules establish strict new efficiency standards for bulbs used in homes and businesses and ban the manufacture and sale of those that don’t meet those requirements. Practical incandescent bulbs, which trace their origin to an 1880 Edison patent, can’t meet those standards, and neither can halogen bulbs. The rules also ban imports of less efficient bulbs.
The requirements carry a bit less heft than they would have several years back, however, largely because advances in LED technology and manufacturing have dramatically lowered prices and improved quality.
Between 2015 and 2020, the percentage of American households that reported using LED bulbs for most or all of their lighting jumped more than tenfold — from 4% to 47%, according to the Energy Information Administration.
As the rules reinforce existing market changes, the Energy Department believes that U.S. consumers can save almost $3 billion annually on their utility bills. Similarly, it projects that the rules could cut carbon emissions by 222 million metric tons over the next 30 years.
