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The Department of Energy (DOE) said the new requirements for metal halide lamp fixtures and external power supplies will cut energy waste, save families money on their utility bills and reduce pollution.

"By working with industry and efficiency groups, we are developing appliance standards that are saving billions of dollars while helping to fight carbon pollution," Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said in a statement about the new rules. "Building on President Obama's Climate Action Plan, the Energy Department continues to make good progress to help communities and businesses save on their utility bills and build a more sustainable energy future."

Metal halide lamp fixtures are big, bright lights that are commonly used at camp sites, parking lots, streets, warehouses, school gymnasiums and athletic facilities.

These lighting systems somewhat distort the color in surrounding environments, said Joe Rey-Barreau, an associate professor at the University of Kentucky, who consults for the American Lighting Association. So while they work well in outdoor settings, they are not so great for homes or inside retail stores where companies want their products to be shown in the best light possible.

Metal halide lamp fixtures already tend to be one of the more energy-efficient sources of light, according to Rey-Barreau. They are about five times more efficient than incandescent light bulbs and roughly the same level as florescent lights and LEDs.

But the Energy Department has indicated it would like manufacturers to increase those efficiencies.

The agency estimates the metal halide lamp fixture rule could cost manufacturers $21.5 million. That includes nearly $18 million in losses for ballast manufacturers. Metal halide lamp fixtures uses ballasts to start and regulate the electrical current.

But the rule could also save the public up to $1.1 billion over 30 years, according to DOE estimates.

The final rule will go into effect in two months, but companies would not be required to comply with the new rules until Feb. 10, 2017.

Meanwhile, the Energy Department also plans to publish new energy conservation rules for external power supplies.

The Energy Department estimates this rule could cost manufacturers $51 million, but that consumers would save as much as $3.8 billion in energy bills. The agency said it does not anticipate any plant closings or significant job cuts due to the rule.

The new rules would establish energy conservation standards for the minimum average efficiency of a device while it is in operation, and the maximum power consumption level when it is plugged in but not supplying power. These rules would amend existing energy conservations standards for some external power supplies and would also apply to other external power supplies that have never been regulated.

It would also apply to all external power supplies that are manufactured in or imported to the United States by Feb. 10, 2016.

The Energy Department noted it has established new efficiency standards for more than 30 household items and commercial products like dishwashers, refrigerators and water heaters, during the Obama administration. It estimates these rules will save consumers more than $400 billion through 2030. 

There are two ways to look at the great debate over light bulbs.

One is that government regulations meant to save energy by filling the nation's roughly 4 billion light sockets with vastly more efficient light bulbs are an outrageous offense to personal freedom.

The other is summed up by a funny internet spot last year for Cree's super-efficient light emitting diode (LED) bulbs: "The light bulbs in your house were invented by Thomas Edison in 1879. Now think about that with your 2013 brain. Do you still do your wash down at the creek while your eldest son stands lookout for wolves?"

The trillion dollar spending bill enacted into law last week makes a nod toward the first viewpoint. It bans the federal government from spending money to enforce the phaseout of the familiar incandescent bulb.

This makes Tea Party activists happy. Getting the government out of Americans' lighting fixtures has been one of their persistent demands. But it might have come too late to make much difference.  A bipartisan 2007 law, signed by President George W. Bush, has been pushing up energy efficiency standards and pushing out the old-style light bulbs for the past two years.

Traditional bulbs convert only one-tenth of the electricity they use into light; the rest is wasted. Energy-saving rules made the old 100-watt bulb obsolete in January 2012, followed by the 75-watt last year and the 40-watt and 60-watt bulbs this month.

You can still find the old-style bulbs, but inventory is dwindling. Bulb makers and retailers have largely moved on. So have most consumers, according to polls.

True, affection for traditional bulbs is strong, and the first replacements were hard to love. They were expensive and slow to warm up. Some produced light that people found unpleasant. Competition and innovation have fixed most problems, including the price. Squiggly compact fluorescents, or CFLs, that once cost as much as $35 a bulb now commonly sell for about $2 or less.

LEDs are still more expensive but even more efficient, and those who want their old-style bulbs can buy modified incandescents virtually indistinguishable - except that they use about a quarter less electricity.

And that's the point. The new bulbs may cost more, but they use so much less power and last so much longer that they pay for themselves. Over all, switching to new bulbs could save the electricity produced by 30 power plants - enough to power every home in Texas, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Critics complain that the government is "picking winners," but the bill Bush signed did this the right way: It set efficiency standards that manufacturers could meet any way they liked, and the result is visible at any hardware store - a huge selection of competing bulbs.

Not every government-mandated standard works well or justifies its existence, but the light bulb rule has spurred remarkable innovation and is already saving significant amounts of electricity. A time when a boom in oil and natural gas production has brought the nation tantalizingly close to energy independence is no time to backtrack on bulbs.

Reprint from USA Today

You may also want to read our blog on this subject:

Incandescent Light Bulb Ban: 

What it really Means? 

As we've welcomed in the New Year, it's been hard to ignore the countless media reports announcing the death of the standard light bulb. The so-called "incandescent light bulb ban" is being blamed for the demise of the nation's most popular bulb, but what many may not realize is there technically isn't a ban on incandescent bulbs and consumers still have plenty of lighting options available. Read More  

According to a report posted on local news site NJ.com,the Thomas Edison tower on Christie St. in Edison, N.J., just now emerging from a two-year renovation project, will be lit with solid-state lighting. 

"The 14-foot-tall glass replica light bulb on top of the 118-foot-tall tower will no longer burn with an array of incandescent bulbs, Edison's signature invention. The project calls for changing the lights to the new LED bulbs, a lighting-tech leap that came well after Edison's time," the story, written by Brian Amaral, says.

The NJ.com story cites several people saying they believe Edison would approve of the change, given his enthusiasm for technological improvements generally, then goes on to relate the change to LEDs to the recent regulations mandating increases in lighting efficiency that are pushing conventional tungsten-incandescent lamps off store shelves. 

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