Legislation + Regulation

Most lighting professionals are aware by now that the Commercial Buildings Deduction has been extended to 2013. Here is an article I wrote for Electrical Contractor Magazine, published in the March issue, that describes the Interim Lighting Rule, which in my opinion is the easiest and fastest path for an indoor lighting project to qualify [...]

Great conversation still happening in the comments section in an earlier post here. To which I’d like to add: Perhaps we are “banning” the wrong technology? CFLs save energy but they have dimming issues with self-ballasted screw-in type units, thermal issues in some luminaires, sizing issues in others, color, time to reach full brightness, etc. [...]

The stimulus package, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, focuses on economic stimulus through both tax credits and public-sector spending, with a heavy focus on infrastructure and energy. Here’s an interesting development I had missed at first glance through it: The Department of Energy is offering $16.8 billion to the states for a variety of [...]

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009–the “stimulus package”–has been passed, which includes $311 billion in appropriations. President Obama will sign the bill into law on Tuesday, February 17, and then let the spending begin. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that the plan will generate 1-3 million jobs. In the past 12 months, 3.5 [...]

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has put forward efficiency regulations on 4- and 8-ft. linear fluorescent lamps and halogen PAR lamps and is accepting comments for the near future (60 days after the publication of the regulations in the Federal Register, and as of February 6, 2009, this apparently has not happened yet, according [...]

Incandescent general-service and reflector lamps, and fluorescent magnetic, mercury vapor and probe-start metal halide ballasts, are being targeted by efficiency legislation. As a result, some of lighting’s most venerable workhorses are being retired. Their new competitors are simply too efficient and better performing. The electronic ballast’s rapid rise to dominance of the fluorescent ballast market, [...]

And that will probably include lighting, too. Calling energy efficiency America’s “cheapest, cleanest, fastest energy source,” President Obama’s energy plan targets a reduction in electricity demand of 15% from projected levels by 2020, including efforts to make all new buildings 50% more efficient and all existing buildings 25% more efficient. With a clear mandate and [...]

The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 regulates the efficiency of general-service 40-100W incandescent and halogen screw-in lamps starting in 2012. With only a few exceptions among energy-saving screw-in halogen lamps, today’s incandescent lamps do not comply and will therefore be eliminated. The good news for incandescent fans (and those who simply want choice [...]