Incandescent Lamp Ban?

What This Means, How to Handle It

UPDATE 6/4/2022.

This article is in reference to USA Federal legislation that banned *SOME* *but not all* household incandescent lamps in stages from 2012 through 2014, and that will ban many more but not all in 2022-2023.

The 2022-2023 expenasion of the ban will ban manufacturing in the US and importing into the US newly affected light bulbs in July 2022 with enforcement starting in November 2022, and ban retailing of banned light bulbs later in 2022 with enforcement starting in January 2023.

The 2022-2023 expansion of this ban will have:

* The energy efficiency exception of 2012-2014 that allowed 72, 53, 43, and 29 watt incandescent lamps that produce at least (respectively) 1490, 1050, 750, or 310 lumens will be changed to a standard of requiring at least 45 lumens per watt along with having a rated average life expectancy of at least 1,000 working hours. The lower standard imposed in 2012-2014 for modified spectrum lamps and the lower one imposed in 2008 for reflectorized flood light bulbs (type R, PAR and K) will be replaced by the upcoming one of 45 lumens/watt. The upcoming requirement of "general service lamps" (ones other than below exceptions that will continue) to achieve 45 lumens per watt will apply to all light source technologies including CFL and LED and not only incandescent including halogen, although no incandescent lamps including halogen that are in mass production for retail sale are known to achieve both 45 lumens of light per watt of electrical power and average life expectancy of at least 1,000 working hours.

* The 2012-2014 exception for rated light output less than 310 lumens or more than 2600 lumens will end.

* The 2012-2014 exception for candelabra and intermediate screw bases will end.

* The 2012-2014 exception for many specified shapes and sizes of bulbs, mostly decorative, will end.

* The 2012-2014 exception for rough service, vibration service, and shatter resistant light bulbs will end.

The Exceptions From This Ban That Will Continue:

1: Light Bulbs for Designed Usage at Voltages Over 130 or Less Than 110 Volts:

Flashlight lamps
Automotive bulbs, most other vehicle-specific bulbs
28 and 14 volt aircraft bulbs
Bicycle light bulbs
Nearly all electronic equipment indicator lamps
Most bipin halogen bulbs 50 watts or less
Nearly all halogen bulbs 20 watts or less
All other low voltage lamps / bulbs in general rated 84 volts or less, including many bipin halogen lamps of rated wattage up to and including 400 watts (update 5/20/2022)
84 volt projector lamps (update 5/20/2022)
230, 240, and 277 volt lightbulbs

2: Ones With Bases Other Than Screw Base

This exemption from the ban includes most projector lamps and some related "photo optic" ones, including many with 3-letter names where the first letter is A to F, including DYS, EHJ and FEL. Also exempted on this bases are some low voltage bulbs and indicator lamps and most automobile bulbs, whether or not they are excluded from the ban for other reasons. Many halogen ones without an outer bulb and most "xenon" under-cabinet bulbs will continue to be exempt on this basis, in addition to mostly also being exempted on basis of design voltage.

MR11 and MR16 pin-base units are exempted on this basis, whether or not they qualify for exemption on basis of low voltage.

UPDATE 3/5/2011: NOT EXEMPTED ON THIS BASIS - oddball proprietary screw bases of sizes not listed in the Wikipedia article on "Edison Screw Base".

3: Many Specialty Types

Specifically *NOT EXEMPTED* from the ban on "specialty lamp" basis:

"Modified Spectum" such as GE's "Reveal" and other neodymium bulb lamps, and most similar light bulbs with bluish glass.

Exempted from the ban on "Specialty Lamp" basis:

appliance (UPDATE 3/5/2011 - 40 watts or less, including fridge bulbs)
commercial oven, even if rated 100 watts (UPDATE 5/20/2022)
black light
bug
coloured (includes "daylight" of color temp. over 4600 K, also "warmer color" where color temperature is both below 2500 K and lowered by coloring)
infrared
left-hand thread (used where lamps may be stolen)
marine / marine signal
mine service
plant light
sign
silver bowl (reflectorized over the tip hemisphere of the bulb)
showcase (typically tubular over 10 inches long and/or having end caps)
traffic signal

Credit To:

Paul Eldridge, for posting most of this in a January 18 2008 posting in the Usenet newsgroup alt.home.repair, in article (message ID) <2n12p3hhhjb104qjfuhvnf2o8r39ldmpi6@4ax.com>

UPDATE 3/5/2011: Further info, sources (archived by the Wayback Machine, these were taken down during the Trump administration):

FACT SHEET: General Service Incandescent Lamp Provisions Contained in EISA 2007

Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007

Sections 321-322 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (pages 82 to 98) are the relevant ones for light bulbs. There are additional requirements taking place after 2014 that I have yet to mention, but I don't find them significant yet.

What to do about this

LED light bulbs that are suitable to replace about-to-be banned incandescent light bulbs are already on the market. LED light bulbs have been becoming mostly better than CFL light bulbs in all or nearly all ways.

One hint: CFLs with outer bulbs tend to start dimmer and take longer to warm up than bare spiral CFLs. LED light bulbs are at full brightness in less than a second and are not dimmed by cold temperatures, as long as the temperature is not much colder than an LED light bulb is rated for.

RECESSED CEILING FIXTURES, SMALL DOWNLIGHTS AND SMALL ENCLOSED FIXTURES: These fictures have historically been prone to overheating if light bulbs brighter than 60 watt incandescent light bulbs are used. Also, non-incandescent light bulbs often overheat in such fixtures if their rated light output exceeds 800 lumens or "60 watt incandescent equivalence". Sometimes, even 800 lumen non-incandescent lightbulbs can overheat in these light fixtures. Ikea's Solhetta series 60 watt equivalent LED light bulb that is rated to produce 800 lumens from 5.9 watts is especially cool running in these fixtures.

Update 6/4/2022: I have more info on light bulbs for saving energy and money here.

Written by Don Klipstein.

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