Incandescent Light Bulbs Are Being Phased Out
Thomas Alva Edison’s light bulb, hailed as one of the greatest inventions of all time, had it’s first successful trial in October 1879, is undergoing some major changes.
As of January 1, 2014 manufacturing of 40 and 60 watt light bulbs ceased, and while still available for sale in stores these bulbs will soon pass into history. The elimination of the incandescent light bulb is the result of the 2007 law passed by Congress known as the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA), which mandated the phase out of standard bulbs ranging in wattage from 40 to 100 watts. The manufacturing of higher wattage standard bulbs, the 100 and 75 watt varieties, ceased in 2012 and 2013 respectively.
The law mandated greater efficiency standards for light bulbs with the purpose of making the country more energy independent. It is estimated that 12% of the household’s energy usage is attributed to lighting, and a standard incandescent bulb is a tremendous energy hog with as much as 90% of it’s energy expended as heat according to the EPA. With an estimated 4 billion light sockets, and 3 billion of them still using old bulbs, across the country that is a lot of wasted energy.
Bulbs now manufactured must be at least 27% more energy efficient that the old standard light bulb, and the law is technology neutral in that any type of bulb can be made as long as it meets the new efficiency standard.
The efficiency of a light bulb is measured by it’s lumens per watt output. A lumen indicates how bright a bulb is, and a watt indicates how much energy the bulb uses.
How Do Light Bulbs Compare?
– A standard 60 watt old style light bulb provides 13 to 14 lumens per watt
– An equivalent Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) bulb provides between 55 and 70 lumens per watt
– An equivalent LED bulb provides between 60 and 100 lumens per watt
If you are confused about what type of new bulb you need to replace your old style on the EPA suggest the following:
– If you used to buy a 100 watt bulb, look for a newer style one with 1600 lumens
– If you used to buy a 75 watt bulb, look for a newer style one with 1100 lumens
– If you used to buy a 60 watt bulb, look for a newer style one with 800lumens
– If you used to buy a 40 watt bulb, look for a newer style one with 450 lumens
Lumen output is a better indicator of light output than wattage.
We owe a lot to Mr. Edison’s for his grand invention, these new bulbs improve on his original idea which has remained virtually unchanged for 135 years.
For more information about the changing light bulb reference the EPA’s EISA fact sheet.
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