Legislation + Regulation

My contribution to the January issue of ELECTRICAL CONTRACTOR took a look at the Department of Energy’s recent action on general-service lamp energy standards and its interpretation of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007’s backstop rule.

California’s 2019 lighting standards and regulations went into effect January 1, 2020. The 2019 changes include updates to both the Appliance Efficiency Regulations and Building Energy Efficiency Standards.

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) and the American Lighting Association (ALA) yesterday ended their legal challenge to the California Energy Commission’s Nov. 13 decision to expand its lamp energy standards. NEMA’s announcement came after reviewing the decision of the federal district court in Sacramento denying the application for a temporary restraining order without prejudice to pursue a motion for a preliminary injunction.

The Department of Energy has confirmed its September 5, 2019 determination that existing energy standards for general-service incandescent lamps do not need to be amended, citing these amendments are not economically justified.

On December 20, 2019, President Trump signed into law HR1865, the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act (2020), which contained an extension to the Energy-Efficient Commercial Buildings Tax Deduction (179D).

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association and the American Lighting Association are suing California to block the state’s updated lamp efficiency standards from going into effect on January 1, 2020. Today, a federal court denied a temporary restraining order.

The Consumer Federation of America recently submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Energy on its Proposed Determination that finds that new lighting efficiency standards are not needed and that essentially rolls back efficiency levels of general-service incandescent lamps. According to CFA, DOE’s justification for its rulemaking is riddled with factual errors and based on flawed assumptions and methodology, and will cost consumers more than $80 billion in lost energy savings over 30 years.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) recently announced it has joined other environmental and consumer advocacy groups in a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Energy’s rollback of energy-saving standards for general-service lamps currently in service in about half of the conventional sockets in the United States.

President Trump’s recent remarks about current energy-efficient lighting technology were inaccurate and outdated.