As part of the Biden administration’s energy efficiency and climate agenda, the administration is preparing to implement a nationwide lightbulb ban on one of the most commonly used lightbulbs.
In April 2022, the Department of Energy (DOE) finalized the regulations prohibiting retailers from selling incandescent lightbulbs, with the new rules expected to go into effect on August 1, 2023.
Although the DOE will start fully enforcing the ban on August 1, it has begun encouraging retailers to phase out the sale of the bulbs, issuing warning notices to some retailers in the process.
Last year, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm explained that while the “lighting industry is already embracing more energy-efficient products,” the regulation was only accelerating “progress to deliver the best products to American consumers,” which would help the U.S. “build a better and brighter future.
According to the DOE’s forecasts, the measures would save consumers nearly $3 billion annually in utility bills, in addition to cutting carbon emissions by 222 million metric tons in thirty years.
The regulations coming into effect would make it illegal to sell incandescent and similar halogen light bulbs, causing them to be replaced by light-emitting diode (LED) light bulbs.
However, data from a recent Residential Energy Consumption survey showed that although U.S. households have increasingly switched to LED light bulbs since 2015, fewer than 50 percent of households used the bulbs exclusively.
The data showed only 47 percent of U.S. households used mostly LED light bulbs exclusively used the LED bulbs. Fifteen percent reported using incandescent lightbulbs predominantly or exclusively, while 26 percent didn’t have a predominant light bulb.
