New Rules Will End the Century-Long Run of Classic Light Bulbs

After lighting the nation's homes and businesses for more than a century, transforming the design of buildings and even shortening the average workday, incandescent light bulbs are finally on their way out.

Two new rules were adopted by the Biden administration on Tuesday. The pear-shaped orbs with glowing wire centers would no longer be sold in the future.

The Department of Energy says that the lights can last as long as 50 times as long as traditional bulbs and use less electricity. Saving consumers money and cutting greenhouse gas emissions have been achieved by that revolutionary shift.

The lighting industry is already embracing more energy efficient products, and this measure will accelerate progress.

Americans will save $3 billion a year on their utility bills once the new rules are in place, the department said. The department said that the stricter standards will cut emissions of planet-warming carbon dioxide by an estimated 222 million metric tons over the next 30 years, an amount equivalent to the emissions generated by 28 million homes in one year.

The phaseout was going to begin in 2019. The effort was put off by the Trump administration because of pressure from some of the world's biggest light-bulb makers. In the European Union, those same companies have phased out the use of incandescent bulbs.

As part of the administration's push for bolder action to limit climate change, President Biden is working to restore many of the environmental rules rolled back by his predecessor. Much of the Biden climate agenda is stuck in Congress, so these regulatory changes could carry a lot of the weight.

Light bulb manufacturers argue that too rapid a pivot away from incandescent bulbs would damage their bottom line and lead to a lot of unsold bulbs which would end up in the trash.

Investment in manufacturing equipment for the old style bulbs has paid off and there is relatively little competition among the manufacturers of the old style bulbs. The market for light emitting devices has attracted new manufacturers and has become more competitive.

The new rules were praised by environmental and energy-efficiency groups, but they said that the regulatory timelines gave manufacturers too much time to move away from a technology that was already widely available.

Steven Nadel said that there is no good reason for manufacturers to keep selling 19th-century technology that isn't very good at turning electrical energy into light.

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association, the trade group for manufacturers of light bulbs, said the shift to LEDs had been a success.

Research has shown that dollar stores and convenience shops that serve low-income communities stock traditional or halogen bulbs, whereas stores that serve more affluent communities only sell the far-more- efficient LEDs. One Michigan study found that the cost of LEDs was more expensive in wealthier areas than in poorer ones.

Andrew deLaski is the executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project.