The Biden administration is moving forward with its bright idea, even though one group says these are dark times for consumers.
As of Aug. 1, the incandescent light bulb will go into the dark night of regulations, according to Fox News.
Because as of that date, retailers will be banned from selling them under rules adopted by the Department of Energy a year ago.
Production of most halogen light bulbs and compact fluorescent bulbs, as well as incandescent ones, are now banned, which is part of the Biden administration’s environmental efforts that include a potential ban on gas stoves, which Republicans are battling.
“The lighting industry is already embracing more energy efficient products, and this measure will accelerate progress to deliver the best products to American consumers and build a better and brighter future,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in an April 2022 statement.
But Fox News noted that a coalition of consumer groups pushed back in a letter to the DOE last year that said “further regulatory interference in the marketplace is unwarranted given that more energy efficient lighting choices, namely light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs, are already available for those consumers who prefer them over incandescent bulbs.”
The groups said consumers deserve a choice.
“While LEDs are more efficient and generally longer-lasting than incandescent bulbs, they currently cost more than incandescent bulbs and are inferior for certain functions such as dimming. Consumers are best served by retaining the choice between incandescent bulbs and LEDs rather than regulating incandescent bulbs off the market,” the coalition’s letter states.
Last year, when the rule was published requiring the change, it noted there was a cost attached for manufacturers, according to Fox News.
“In order to bring products into compliance with new and amended standards, it is estimated that the industry would incur total conversion costs of $407 million,” the draft rule said.
The change had been delayed by the Trump administration, according to Fox News.
In 2019, former President Donald Trump said that “what’s saved is not worth it.”
The Residential Energy Consumption Survey said that of those participating in its survey, 47 percent use mostly or only LEDs, 15 percent use mostly incandescent or halogen lights, and 12 percent rely on compact fluorescent, according to Fox..
The survey showed 26 percent had no leading type of bulb, Fox News reported.
The survey said 54 percent of households with incomes over $100,000 used LEDs, compared to 39 percent of households with incomes under $20,000.
Some groups are applauding the administration’s efforts.
“We are long overdue to phase out inefficient old-fashioned light bulbs as this progress was illegally delayed by the Trump administration for more than two years. LED bulbs, which will replace the old incandescents, use one-sixth the amount of energy to deliver the same amount of light and last at least 10 times longer,”Joe Vukovich, an energy efficiency advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in an April 2022 statement.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.