A large-scale ban of incandescents, the intent of which was mostly to make politicians look good, would have been undone by the need for exceptions and exemptions. Undoubtedly, a black market would have developed to meet the demand for banned lamps. A rational effort was made to address these issues when the Energy Security and Independence Act of 2007 was written. Its premise states that progress must be made, but recognizes there are real problems with the current technologies. Incandescent lamps will be phased out on a schedule that allows time for the development of more efficient technologies. The act provides specific lamp-power limits, timetables for efficiency improvements, funding for consumer education, and even a prize for the development of LED technology capable of replacing general-service lamps.
The common A-lamp is not actually banned but rather required to become 30 percent more efficient and longer lasting by 2012. The law exempts a wide range of unusual and special lamps, among them colored and showcase lamps for which ?efficient? options will not be available in the foreseeable future. It also prevents special-purpose lamps, such as shatter-resistant bulbs, from being substituted for A-lamps, thereby circumventing the law?s intent. While the act?s biggest target is general-service incandescent lamps, it also adds new requirements for reflector lamps, bans a type of metal-halide lamp, levies minimum efficiencies on metal-halide ballasts, and increases the required minimum efficacy of fluorescent lighting systems.
Best of all, the act requires that by 2017 there will be a timetable to assure that general-service incandescent lamps achieve 45 lumens per watt by 2020. While technology to meet the 2012 standards is already partly available, this is fair warning that there must be a major change in lighting within the next 12 years.
