Incandescent Light Bulbs Are Now Banned in the U.S.

As of August 1, the U.S. Department of Energy implemented new energy efficiency regulations that effectively ban incandescent bulbs from retail sale. This ruling is part of a larger effort by the Biden Administration to improve countrywide energy efficiency. Per the new guidelines, light bulbs—officially called “general service lamps”—must now meet a standard minimum of 45 lumens per watt, which incandescent bulbs fall very short of, averaging only 12 to 18 lumens per watt.

Households who already have these bulbs in place will not be required to stop using them, but replacements are already dwindling out of the market. Though, not all forms of incandescent bulbs are affected by this ban. Many kinds of specialty incandescent lights are still permitted to be made and sold, including but not limited to:

• Appliance lamps (i.e. fridge and oven lights)
• Christmas lights
• Chandelier bulbs
• Plant grow lights
• Bug lamps
• Black lights
• Traffic signals

The ban will also affect some underperforming halogen and compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs, with all three types of bulbs projected to phase out of the market completely in the coming years.

The reason this lumen-to-watt standard is now being enforced is to encourage American consumers to start transitioning to more energy efficient bulbs, namely LEDs, which are expected to be the new norm for all home lighting in the future.

LEDs produce on average 75 lumens per watt, placing them well above the new efficiency standard. The commercial lighting industry has already largely embraced LEDs as the modern standard for energy efficient lights, and these new regulations are meant to help get the rest of the American public on the same page.

LED technology has come a long way ever since the LED bulb emerged into mainstream usage just over a decade ago. Over the years, LEDs became a popular choice for lighting after changes that lowered pricing, added dimming controls and color temperature options. LEDs are an affordable replacement for incandescent and other less efficient lighting.

The reason incandescent bulbs are so inefficient is because of how they use energy. Almost 90% of incandescent energy is wasted on creating heat, not light. The way they produce light is by heating a wire filament inside the bulb until it glows. This effect makes them hot to the touch and burn out quickly.

On the other hand, light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs, work by using an electric current that passes through a semiconducting material (the diode) to produce illumination. This means that LED bulbs use practically all their energy to create light, making them almost doubly more efficient than incandescent bulbs.

Even though LEDs are more expensive on the front end, they are proven to last 25 to 50 times longer than incandescent bulbs and use 75% less energy, making them more cost effective in the long run. According to the Department of Energy, the transition to LEDs will save an average of $100 per American household, totaling $3 billion per year in utility bill costs. Not only that, but the widespread shift to energy efficient lighting is projected to cut carbon emissions by 222 million metric tons over the next 30 years.

With LEDs becoming the primary household bulb on the market, consumers are going to have to change the way they shop. In the past, wattage was used as the guide for buying light bulbs—the higher the wattage, the brighter bulb. But LED bulbs use the number of lumens to determine their brightness, and color rendering index (CRI) to determine how true colors will appear in their light. Higher lumens mean brighter light, and higher CRI means truer colors. Generally, LED bulbs are going to provide a more selective, clearer light in households and last for years longer than alternatives.

The LED wave is happening gradually, with nearly half of all U.S. households already using LED bulbs for most of their lighting. But this new energy standard is helping to save people money while also solidifying a more energy efficient, green future for America.