Incandescent light bulbs are officially banned in the U.S.

L4sBot@lemmy.worldmod to Technology@lemmy.world – 1178 points – Incandescent light bulbs are officially banned in the U.S.
digitaljournal.com

Incandescent light bulbs are officially banned in the U.S.::America’s ban on incandescent light bulbs, 16 years in the making, is finally a reality. Well, mostly.

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the impact on actual electricity usage is going to be massive.

Is it?

How many people are still installing new incandescent bulbs in 2023?

Is there an actual study showing the expected costs and benefits of this rule, or is it purely political posturing?

The article had an estimate from the DoE. Idk, be mad about it if you want. LED bulbs aren't perfect but what is.

"As the rules reinforce existing market changes, the Energy Department believes that U.S. consumers can save almost $3 billion annually on their utility bills. Similarly, it projects that the rules could cut carbon emissions by 222 million metric tons over the next 30 years."

I can't find such a study, and it seems extremely unlikely to me that any such study was performed recently. The original law was passed in 2007, and then the regulations were in political limbo for more than a decade.

My base hypotheses here, subject to easy refutation by any real evidence, are that:

  • The DOE has looked at no study from after 2007 to justify their current policies.
  • This regulation is going into effect now simply because it was on the list of stuff Trump did that the Biden admin reversed.
  • The effect on consumer electricity costs and carbon emissions are negligible, since LED bulbs are a decade cheaper and better and almost everyone voluntarily buys them.