Long Live the Incandescent Bulb

The Energy Department will now allow you to choose your lighting.

WSJ editorial.

"Good news, Americans. If you like old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs, you can keep buying them. The Energy Department on Wednesday extended the lifespan of incandescents, which the Obama Administration in its twilight sought to extinguish.

Among Congress’s dimmer ideas was to create lighting efficiency standards in 2007 that effectively mandated the phase-out of incandescent bulbs. Americans were told higher-efficiency bulbs would save them thousands of dollars and reduce the nation’s carbon emissions. Where have you heard this before?

Conventional incandescents have already been supplanted by higher efficiency “halogen” bulbs that are virtually indistinguishable. But the Obama Administration in its waning days sought to ban halogens too and extend efficiency standards to certain incandescent lamps that were exempted by Congress.

The Trump Administration is proposing to rescind the Obama regulations. “More stringent standards are not economically justified,” the Energy Department concludes.

While high-efficiency lights like LEDs can reduce energy costs, their up-front costs are higher. Depending on the light fixture, consumers may not make up the purchase price for years if at all. The Energy Department calculates that the payback period for halogen infrared lights (which are more efficient than regular halogens) is three times longer than the product life.

The Trump Administration will allow consumers to do their own cost-benefit analysis including the functional and aesthetic trade-offs. A homeowner in New York where electric costs are among the highest in the country and utilities subsidize efficiency improvements may make a different choice than a renter in Dallas.

Liberal groups are predictably howling that this lighter regulatory touch will increase carbon emissions. But many consumers will probably still replace incandescents with LEDs as they become less expensive and more functional. The price of a 40-watt LED bulb has decreased to $2 from $50 in 2011 as the technology has improved. Consumers can now also adjust the brightness and color of LEDs.

Even the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, which supports giving consumers a choice, says this “will not impact the market’s continuing, rapid adoption of energy-saving lighting.” At least the Trump Administration is letting there be choice."