The Biden administration is going full steam ahead with its ban on light bulbs as part of its energy efficiency and climate agenda.
As of Aug. 1, the incandescent light bulb will be regulated, Fox News reported.
Retailers will be banned from selling these types of light bulbs under rules adopted by the Department of Energy
Halogen light bulbs and compact fluorescent bulbs, including incandescent ones, will be banned as part of the Biden administration’s environmental efforts, which could include a potential ban on gas stoves.
“The lighting industry is already embracing more energy-efficient products, and this measure will accelerate progress to deliver the best products to American consumers and build a better and brighter future,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in an April 2022 statement.
However, a coalition of consumer groups pushed back, writing a letter to the DOE saying, “further regulatory interference in the marketplace is unwarranted given that more energy efficient lighting choices, namely light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs, are already available for those consumers who prefer them over incandescent bulbs.”
The groups argue that consumers deserve a choice on what they can buy.
“While LEDs are more efficient and generally longer-lasting than incandescent bulbs, they currently cost more than incandescent bulbs and are inferior for certain functions such as dimming. Consumers are best served by retaining the choice between incandescent bulbs and LEDs rather than regulating incandescent bulbs off the market,” the coalition’s letter states.
Long after the new rule was published, it was noted it would be at cost for manufacturers.
“In order to bring products into compliance with new and amended standards, it is estimated that the industry would incur total conversion costs of $407 million,” the draft rule said.
The change, however, has been delayed by the Trump administration,
In 2019 President Donald Trump said that “what’s saved is not worth it.”
According to Fox News:
The Residential Energy Consumption Survey said that of those participating in its survey, 47 percent use mostly or only LEDs, 15 percent use mostly incandescent or halogen lights, and 12 percent rely on compact fluorescent.
The survey showed 26 percent had no leading type of bulb.
The survey also added that 54 percent of households with incomes over $100,000 used LEDs, while households with incomes under $20,000 39 percent.
But some groups praised the Biden administration’s efforts.
“We are long overdue to phase out inefficient old-fashioned light bulbs as this progress was illegally delayed by the Trump administration for more than two years,” Joe Vukovich, an energy efficiency advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in an April 2022 statement.
“LED bulbs, which will replace the old incandescents, use one-sixth the amount of energy to deliver the same amount of light and last at least 10 times longer,” he added.
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