ASHRAE Makes Changes to the U.S. LED Lighting Standards

Earlier this month furniture retailer IKEA decided to only sell LED lightbulbs in their stores as part of the company’s sustainability effort. This move, which other organizations are also following, is due in large part to the United States Lighting Energy Policy from 2007 which was a phase-out program of inefficient incandescent light bulbs. While there is a general shift towards more efficient lighting, the team at HomElectrical decided to do an in-depth piece on the policies and laws that require better, more efficient bulbs in homes and businesses.

In 2007, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, or better known as the EISA, created new lighting legislation in the United States. Up until then, regulations on lightbulbs had been relatively relaxed as far as energy efficiency goes, but, with the introduction of the bill, we now have energy efficiency standards that require lightbulbs to have a strict lumens-per-watt ratio, which varies on different types of bulbs.

Also, bulb lifetime standards were increased with this bill, so bulbs now are expected to be more powerful, more efficient, and last much longer than any other time in history. Compare CFL's vs. Halogen vs. Fluorescent vs. Incandescent vs. LED

Other regulations and legislation has been enacted to support the EISA or to enforce even stricter requirements for buildings and businesses. According to the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, otherwise known as ASHRAE, the requirements for buildings also created new lighting standards. Some of the lighting standards include: