The usual course of events for people purchasing items, especially in business, is to buy the cheapest piece per each without considering long term use or especially impact on the environment. One of the big users of electricity is lighting. Replacing regular lamps (light bulbs to the layman) with compact fluorescent lamps would have a noticeable impact on an electric bill. But these lamps cost considerably more than the normal incandescent lamps. There is a payback, often less than a year, but that is a difficult decision for many-especially if they are graded on the original cost of goods. Therefore, there has been talk of legislation or other regulation to force the market to move. It should come as no surprise that the industry would like to steer the direction of the discussion. Here's a press release from the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA).
The members of the Lamp Section of NEMA announced a joint industry commitment to support public policies that will transform the U.S. market to more energy-efficient lighting within a decade. There are a growing number of proposals at the international, state and local levels that would eliminate the presence of certain general-service incandescent lamps in the marketplace.
Citing this as an issue of national importance, NEMA is calling on the U.S. government to devise a federal solution in order to avoid confusion in the marketplace.
Central to this commitment is the setting of standards that will eliminate the least efficient products from the market, based on the following six principles:
* The market transformation must be orderly and target as a starting point the least efficient medium screw base A-line incandescent lamps from 40 through 100 watts in widespread use today.
* Performance standards must be used to accomplish the transformation.
* Performance standards must be technology-neutral.
* The market transformation will take up to a decade.
* The set of A-line incandescent lamps to be addressed includes clear, frost, soft white and enhanced spectrum. Performance standards will be needed for each of these types.
* The market transformation should begin with strategies that will save the most energy.
In the absence of a federal solution, states and localities should follow these principles when deliberating on this matter.
[I had several proposals out to facilities such as hotels when I was in the business. It would have saved them money two ways-first on the electric bill, second on replacement cost (compact fluorescent lamps have a much longer life). But the buyers just couldn't get past the initial cost. Hmm, sounds just like the premium motor argument.]
2:02:23 PM 
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