US lawmakers seek to ban inefficient lightbulbs
California representative Jane Harman has submitted a bill to the House of Representatives that would ban inefficient lightbulbs. HR 1547 would ban all lightbulbs that produce less than 60 lumens per watt by 2012. The bill would also require that even more efficient lightbulbs be used in subsequent years.
By 2016 the bill would ban lightbulbs that produce less than 90 lumens per watt and that number would rise to 120 lumens per watt in 2020. Certain organizations like military, medical and public safety can request a two year exemption from the rules.
Regular incandescent lightbulbs currently produce around 15 lumens per watt and would surely be illegal under the proposed law. Compact fluorescent lightbulbs produce around 60 lumens per watt under current technology.
You can read the full text of HR 1547
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Humphrey Cheung was a senior editor at Tom's Hardware, covering a range of topics on computing and consumer electronics. You can find more of his work in many major publications, including CNN and FOX, to name a few.