First off, you need to educate yourself on the new lighting laws. Knowing what the laws are, can help you make smart buying decisions. check out this short video on the new lighting laws:

We admit, it can be confusing picking an energy efficient light bulb. There are those squiggly CFLs, the space ship looking LEDs, and the “it looks like what I used to buy” halogens all waiting for you to chose them. Knowing that you have all these options before you go, will help you determine what you need to pick.

NEMA (National Electrical Manufacturers Association) has put out a great piece on choosing the right bulb. Also, the NRDC has also put out some great information on choosing the right bulb to meet your needs. TCP has also created a resource center to answer some commonly asked questions that can be found here: http://www.tcpi.com/EISAFaq.aspx

This is great for the lighting industry! However, for the general consumer, these new laws and new technologies open up a new can of worms. Now consumers have to ask questions like: “What do I buy?” “How does this work?” “Will this look good in my house?” However, there is one very important question that consumers are not asking is, “Do I need to be able to use this bulb on a dimmer?”

All of these great new technologies are great for energy savings, however not all of these bulbs work in all applications. Consumers need to be aware that not all of the new technologies will work on the standard dimmer that is currently in their house. They need to look at the bulb packaging and verify that the new bulb that they are picking does in fact work on a dimmer.

After finding out if the CFL, LED or halogen bulb that has been picked is dimmable, the next step is to see if the bulb works on all standard dimmers and if the bulb is to performs like the incandescent bulbs that they have become accustomed to. Many CFL and LED bulbs on the market require a special type of dimmer. It is important that if you are just looking to replace your current bulb that you choose one that will work on a standard dimmer and will not require you to purchase a new dimmer for your room.

The next step is to look at dimming performance. Not all CFL and LED bulbs that state that they are dimmable perform like an incandescent bulb! Some dimmable bulbs flicker and flash and do not have a “smooth” dimming curve. Make sure that you pick something that is going to perform the way that you expect it to. The best dimming CFL on the market dims from 100% down to 2% with zero low end flicker. The best performing LED on dims exactly like an incandescent from 100% down to 0%.

So, when you are shopping for a new bulb or helping a customer pick a new energy saving technology make sure that you know what type of dimming you need in order to pick a great bulb.

Could Congress be doing a cha, cha, cha on light bulb efficiency? One wonders as Congress debates The BULB Act, legislation that has 27 cosponsors in the Senate and a companion bill in the House. It would repeal the part of a 2007 law that toughened energy-efficiency standards for light bulbs, lambasting the standard as overregulation that is paternalistic and anticonsumer.

Still, The Christian Science Monitor reports “Kyle Pitsor of the National Electric Manufacturers Association (NEMA) testified that The BULB bill would be bad for US light bulb makers, who have already upgraded factories to meet new standards and would face a patchwork of state regulations if the uniform federal 2007 standard (due to take effect nation wide in 2012) were rolled back, he said.

” ‘NEMA does not support its repeal,’ said Mr. Pitsor. ‘It’s a common misunderstanding, but these standards do not ban incandescent bulbs, nor do they mandate the use of compact fluorescent bulbs…. Consumers will still be able to purchase a general service incandescent bulb,’ but one that will be 28 percent more efficient.’ “

Read about “the good, the bad and the ugly” of lighting regulation here in The Monitor.

Let’s first start with the definition of a watt. A watt is defined as the power needed to move a one kilogram object at the speed of one meter per-second against a force of one newton. More simply put a watt a measurement of how much electrical power a device consumes. When looking at lighting and watts, you are not looking at how much light a bulb puts out when looking at watts, but how much energy a bulb uses to put out that amount of light.

Now moving on to lumens, a lumen is a measurement of the amount of light that is contained in a certain area. The technical definition of a lumen is one candela multiplied by one steradian. A much simpler definition of a lumen would be that one lumen is equivalent to the amount of light put out by one birthday candle when you are standing one foot away from it. If a light bulb puts out 100 lumens, imagine standing one foot away from a cake with one hundred birthday candles on it.

Lumens are more accurate way of measuring the amount of light a particular bulb is putting out, because lumens are a direct measurement of light output. Wattage, even though it is what people have become accustomed to seeing on packaging and measuring how much light they are seeing, it is not really an accurate way to measure light output. Just because a light bulb uses a particular amount of energy to run, does not mean that it directly correlates with the amount of light that is put out. With a variety of energy efficient CFLs, LEDs and Halogen lamps coming onto the market on a regular basis that do not use nearly the same amount of energy as incandescent bulbs it makes sense for people to move away from thinking about wattage when they purchase a bulb and start thinking about lumens.

First off, there are many great reasons why this law was put into place in 2007. 90% of electricity that incandescent light bulbs use is wasted as heat. With over 4.5 billion sockets in the U.S. and around 3 billion still using inefficient technology, we are wasting over $13 billion a year in electricity. The amount of electricity that we will be saving with the new standards is just about equal to the amount of electricity that all of the homes in the state of Texas uses in an entire year.

The new lighting standards are also environmentally friendly. The new standards will reduce the amount of CO2 emissions by 100 million tons per year. 100 million tons would be the equivalent of around 12.5 million elephants. This is a huge savings and helps in the fight against global warming and pollution.

The new lighting laws are not banning incandescent lighting; they are just weeding out inefficient options. These laws actually put the consumer in the driver’s seat for picking the right energy efficient light bulb for any application. There are many different CFL, LED and halogen options to choose from that all meet the new standards and will provide the same amount of light that people are used to in their homes. Without out these new standards lighting technology and innovation would probably be in the same place that it was 15 years ago.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has recently published a great paper called Shedding New Light on the U.S. Energy Efficiency Standards For Everyday Light Bulbs on some of the changes and how they are impacting the everyday consumer. It’s a great read for anyone that is concerned about how the new lighting laws are going to affect them and really puts the rumors about how the government is banning traditional light bulbs to rest.

Although there are many options to choose from, two forms of energy-efficient lighting seem to dominate the market as replacements for the old incandescent. Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL) or light bulbs have the bigger share of the market, while LED bulbs are gaining in popularity. So what are the differences?

A CFL is a miniature, twisted version of the straight fluorescent tubes commonly used in office and retail settings. Many are designed to screw in to standard incandescent fixtures. When gas inside a CFL is excited by electricity, it produces an invisible ultraviolet light. The UV light then hits a white coating inside the CFL, producing light you can see.

The advantages of CFLs, according to ENERGYSTAR®, include:

• Provides the same amount of light as an ordinary bulb, but uses about 75 percent less energy
• Generates approximately 75 percent less heat, cutting home cooling costs
• Lasts up to 10 times longer than a standard incandescent bulb (Anywhere from 6,000 to 15,000 hours of use.)
• Saves about $30 in energy costs over each bulb’s lifetime
• Allows for different color temperatures (color) for differing applications
• Quality CFLs give off pleasing, wide-spread general light at reduced energy costs compared to standard incandescent light bulbs.

The disadvantages of CFLs include:

• A minute amount of mercury is included, which requiring careful clean-up and disposal
• Low-end, low-price bulbs often flicker, and burn-out quickly
• Higher initial cost than incandescent bulbs
• Not all CFL bulbs are dimmable. Use CFLs labeled for dimming
• Most photocells, motion sensors and electric timers are not designed to work with CFLs. Always check with the manufacturer or check the box for compatibility
• CFLs require a warm-up time before reaching full brightness. The time varies from a few seconds to minutes, depending on the manufacturer

LEDs, or Light Emitting Diode light bulbs, are “the new kid on the block” for residential and commercial lighting. Instead of giving off light from a vacuum (like an incandescent bulb) or a gas (as in a CFL), LEDs use Solid-State Lighting technology, or SSL. LEDs produce light while electrons move around within its semi conductors

LED advantages include:

• No mercury or other harmful elements are in a finished LED
• Extremely low energy consumption (LEDs use 8 watts to produce 60 watts of light. A CFL uses 14)
• LEDs last an estimated 25 to 30 years, or 50,000 hours
• Contain no glass and are difficult to break
• Excellent for rapid cycling, vibration, and hard-to-reach applications

LED disadvantages include:

• High cost, which will be recovered by long life and energy-savings, but it still deters many purchases
• LEDs are often more direction oriented in light output, which may be ideal for a recessed can, but not your reading lamp

So there you have it – some pros and cons of LED and CFL lighting. Choose the ones that best meet your needs and wallet.

InstaBright was created because there was a market for faster starting CFLs. This CFL technology from TCP comes on faster with a 30-45 second run-up time. At 10 seconds, a TCP CFL with InstaBright will be up over 200 lumens where other bulbs are still under 100 lumens. Here’s a quick demonstration of this amazing technology:



TCP InstaBright CFLs are available in globe, par and A-Lamp sizes in a variety of color temperatures and wattages. These great bulbs are also ENERGY STAR® rated. InstaBright bulbs take away any concerns about walking into a dark room after flipping the light switch. For more information on InstaBright, visit the TCP website.

The law is not banning incandescent lighting, it is just creating a standard for lighting that traditional incandescent lamps do not meet. The government is creating this standard for lighting, because it is in the public’s best interest. These standards are ensuring the quality and safety of the public, just like they have on many products on the market today.

These new lighting standards are phasing out the blubs that you have come accustom to, but they are offering a lot more options that fit the energy efficient standards. Here are some options to keep in mind when shopping for light bulbs to meet the new requirements; the Compact Fluorescent Light bulb, the LED, and Halogen bulbs. There is no need to panic, all of these new lighting options are optimized for specific applications and will provide you with energy efficient lighting that will look great in you specific space.

Stay tuned for more lighting regulation information and how to set the mood with an energy efficient lighting option!

1. Find the lumen output number on the light bulb box. This indicates how much light the lamp produces.
2. Watts indicate how much energy a lamp uses. That number is printed on the box and the bulb.
3. Divide the lumen output number by the light bulb wattage to get the LPW. It’s that simple.

Keep in mind compact fluorescent lamps last longer than standard incandescent light bulbs, but their light output decreases over the life of the bulb. Light bulb manufacturers provide both an initial lumen rating and a mean (average) lumen rating. Whether you are buying one light bulb or outfitting an office, purchase lamps with the highest rating to get the biggest bang for your buck. You’ll get the most light for the least amount of electricity. And while you may not notice much of a difference if you are purchasing one light bulb, imagine the energy savings for a hotel, office or store.

Here’s a great link to show you some of your different options when shopping for energy efficient lighting.

Extensive consumer research and testing was conducted as part of the project. “Having the most innovative technology and the highest quality is not enough. We focused on listening to the customer and designed packaging to fit their needs.” said Jim Connolly, Sr. Vice President – Retail Division at TCP. “This includes everything from how they choose the lamp to how they store it.”

“The idea was to make energy efficient lighting fun,” says Connolly. “The central element throughout both core and promotional items is the presentation of product features in the first person. Add in packaging configurations that are not traditionally used in lighting, and colorful, unexpected graphics and you have TCP’s new packaging.”

The NRHA Gold Award winner is TCP’s 13 watt T2 spiral. The callout “I fit everywhere” brings attention to the lamp’s exceptionally small size and universal fit and the unusual shape of the clamshell brings some fun to a traditionally conservative category.

The NRHA Silver Award winner is TCP’s 13 watt T2 spiral in a 4 pack clear cube. The clear cube allows customers to view the lamps before purchase to confirm they have the correct lamp size, base type and that there is no damage before purchase. The cube is easily re-sealable and can be conveniently stored or stacked unlike traditional clamshell products.

TCP’s new packaging was launched at this year’s Hardware Show in Las Vegas, NV and will be available at retail summer 2010. Promotional packaging is available now in select stores.