DOE sets new lighting standards

President Barack Obama and Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced new energy efficiency standards for lighting, as well as DOE's investment of $346 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to develop and deploy energy-efficient technologies in buildings.

The new standards apply to general service fluorescent lamps, used in most offices and commercial buildings, and incandescent reflector lamps, which are used for recessed lighting and track lighting. It will result in a 15% lower electricity use for general service fluorescent lamps, while decreasing the electricity use of incandescent reflector lamps by 25%.

The rule will apply to lamps manufactured for sale in the United States or imported into the United States starting in mid-2012, and in the 30 years following that, they will save consumers up to $4 billion per year, avoid the emission of up to 594 million tons of carbon dioxide, and eliminate the need for as many as 14 500-megawatt power plants.

The new fluorescent lamp standards are extended to include two types of four-foot-long lamps, while the standards for four other types of lamps require an increase of 10%-31.2% in the light output per watt. For incandescent reflector lamps, the new standard is essentially the same as the old one for the smallest 40-watt bulb, but it requires higher efficiencies for brighter bulbs.

For the brightest bulb, at 205 watts, the new standard requires nearly one-third more light per watt than the old standard. It also sets slightly lower requirements for new "modified-spectrum" bulbs, which use a coating to achieve specific effects, such as a better approximation of natural daylight.