Just like the public telephone, the conventional incandescent bulb’s and the ubiquitous (and ugly) fluorescent tube’s days may be numbered in U.S. New federal standards announced June 29, 2009 sets new national minimum energy standards for the standard bulbs that light our offices, homes, stores, and factories. The standards also phase out conventional incandescent reflector lamps, effectively extending the phase out of inefficient incandescent products initiated by Congress in 2007 to the common cone-shaped bulbs used in recessed light fixtures and track lighting.
According to the Department of Energy (DOE), lighting uses nearly 40% of all electricity used in commercial buildings. The standards announced today affect the more than 500 million fluorescent tube lamps and 265 million reflector lamps sold each year in the United States. About 7% of all energy consumed in the United States is for lighting.
According to DOE, the new standards announced today will save up to 1.2 trillion kilowatt-hours over thirty years, an amount about equal to the total consumption of all homes in the U.S. in one year. Businesses and consumers will gain up to $35 billion in net savings and global warming carbon dioxide emissions will be cut by up to 594 million metric tons, an amount equal to the annual emissions of nearly 110 million cars.
For the past several years the City of Milwaukee has actively tried to reduce energy use in City Hall and other city facilities. Since 2005 or so the Department of Public Works has been installing LED traffic signals throughout the City of Milwaukee. An LED (light emitting diode) traffic light provides as much or more light as a conventional bulb using a quarter of the energy, while lasting much longer. Mayor Barrett was quoted in today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that street lighting aacounts for well over 50% of the energy used by the city. According to Ann Beier, Director of Environmental Sustainability, the city has been replacing incandescent bulbs with fluorescent lamps and replacing older, less efficient fluorescent lamps with smaller, more efficient bulbs.
With the change of standards it should get easier for the average consumer to make the shift to more efficient light bulbs. No more standing in the store aisle and reading labels to make sure the bulb in your hand is “energy smart”.