Energy Department not banning all incandescent light bulbs

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The U.S. Department of Energy is banning the sale of energy inefficient light bulbs beginning Aug. 1, 2023. Given that incandescent and halogen light bulbs are far less energy efficient than LED light bulbs, many people are treating this as a ban on incandescent and halogen bulbs.

Incandescent and halogen lights have a wire within the bulb that heats up and produces light, while LED bulbs do not.

But light bulbs aren’t just used in floor lamps and ceiling fans. People in various online communities have asked how the light bulb ban affects them — including a question about halogen headlights in a Ram trucks subreddit, multiple questions about heat lamps in communities for reptile pet owners and a question about how the law affects lava lamps.

Is the U.S. government banning all incandescent and halogen light bulbs?

Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007

The final rule as posted on regulations.gov

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

U.S. code on Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute

General Electric

No, the U.S. government is not banning all incandescent and halogen light bulbs.

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The new rule bans the manufacture and sale of inefficient “general service lamps,” which largely refers to the standard kinds of light bulbs you’d use to illuminate your home. Most incandescent and halogen light bulbs fail to meet these new energy efficiency standards, and are therefore banned by the rule.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has carved out exceptions for many different kinds of light bulbs in its ban on the manufacturing and sale of energy inefficient light bulbs.

“It does not ban the sale or manufacture of ALL incandescent bulbs, just those common household incandescent (and other) bulbs that are not energy-efficient,” the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says of the new ban. “Many bulbs, including specialty bulbs, three-way bulbs, chandelier bulbs, refrigerator bulbs, plant grow lights and others, are exempt from the law's requirements.”

The reason incandescent and halogen bulbs are less energy efficient than LED bulbs is because the incandescent and halogen bulbs create light by passing an electrical current through a tungsten filament, which also creates heat, General Electric says. The heat that’s released is usually wasted energy, although it can sometimes be useful for things like heat lamps.

The ban is a rule that has been in the making since 2007, when Congress passed and former President George W. Bush signed the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. The law required the Secretary of Energy to determine if there should be a rule with a “minimum standard of 45 lumens per watt for general service lamps.”

In Jan. 2017, the DOE adopted this rule, and planned to begin enforcing it in 2020. DOE withdrew this rule in Sept. 2019 and didn’t adopt it again until May 2022, regulations.gov says. Therefore, the enforcement date was moved to Aug. 1, 2023, a DOE document says.

According to the 2007 law, the rule only makes changes to the “Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products Other Than Automobiles” within the U.S. code, meaning the ban does not apply to car lights, including headlights.

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Additionally, the 2007 law required the rule to exempt a number of various bulbs from the ban. These include:

Appliance lamps (such as refrigerator lights)

Heat lamps, plant lights and bug lamps

Colored lights and black lights

Reflector lamps

Chandelier bulbs, Christmas lights and decorative bulbs of 40 watts or less

Globe bulbs and tubular bulbs

Other specialty bulbs listed here

The EPA notes that the rule does not ban the use or purchase of incandescent or halogen lightbulbs, just the manufacture and sale of the bulbs. Therefore, individuals will not be penalized for continuing to use incandescent bulbs in their homes.

RELATED: No, New York City isn’t banning coal or wood-fired pizza ovens

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