The new E.I.S.A laws are changing the way that you are shopping for light bulbs. Not a big deal right? Wrong, what used to only be a small area of your local store has turned into it’s own section. This new retail section now has all kinds of “strange creatures” when it comes to different LED, CFL and energy efficient light bulbs. But, there is nothing to fear!

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

With new laws from the Energy Independence and Security Act quickly coming into place, lighting companies have done many things to stay ahead of the game. Many new LED, CFL and halogen technologies have been coming into play in the marketplace. These new energy efficient technologies are great for the environment, cutting back on the amount of electricity that they consume while producing the same amount of light output.

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.

In my travels around the blog-o-sphere today, I found this great post on the Tips for Better Lighting Blog and thought I would pass the information along. There’s some great stuff in here about the E.I.S.A laws.

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.

With new lighting regulations going into effect in 2012, the FTC is doing their part to help educate consumers by developing packaging standards for lighting manufacturers. Currently, consumers use watts to figure out what type of light bulb that they need to purchase. However, with new technologies coming onto the marketplace every day that consume less power, this unit of measurement is not really an accurate depiction of how much light a bulb is going to put out. Having terminology such as “60 watt equivalent” is helpful, but confusing at the same time because a consumer isn’t aware of the energy savings that they are getting from that light bulb. The new standards from the FTC will focus on lumens and not watts to help consumers determine what type of bulb they need to purchase. But, the big question is the difference between a watt and a lumen.

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.

With California leading the pack by starting the phase-out of 100 Watt incandescent light bulbs a year earlier than the rest of the U.S. they have started a mild uproar. Many people are misinformed about the reasoning for the laws and what options they now have with the new laws being put into place. The new laws are regulating the, but are introducing you to a new variety of energy efficient options.

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.

The Energy Independence Security Act of 2007 (E.I.S.A.), is forcing innovation to an old standard for the good. The E.I.S.A. standards call for better performing and more efficient lighting. That means that starting in 2012 (2011 for California’s accelerated schedule) inefficient lighting options will be phased out in place of more energy efficient options. The goal is that all sockets will be filled with energy efficient options by 2014. Here’s an exact breakdown of how the E.I.S.A standards are shaking out:

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!

Creating energy efficient upscale homes is the focus in an article by Fine Homebuilding Magazine.  In a special publication titled Energy-Smart Homes, the magazine addresses many home products that can be used for the home building trade.

The magazine has an article focused on energy efficient lighting, in particular the CFL.  The article addresses three concerns of the homeowner about the use of fluorescent lighting in their homes.  Using industry information, they have a great summary about the dangers of mercury that is needed to use the fluorescent lighting.  They state that there is mercury in many products used in the home, besides fluorescent lights and that the CFL has the mercury contained in the bulb.  Also that the mercury in the bulb is less than what is emitted into the atmosphere when energy inefficient lighting is used.  Secondly, the article also reports the steps to follow if a bulb is broken, without the need for a hazmat team to arrive.  And finally it addresses the range of color of the light that is emitted by the modern fluorescent lights.

Modern fluorescent lighting has come a long way from the flickering harsh light that were first introduced in the mid 50s.  The industry has worked hard to reduce the hazards and produced a variety of light colors to enhance our indoor environment.  It also has created more efficiencies by creating more variety and pleasing replacements for our standard incandescent lights.

It has reached an age of maturity that even the finest of homes are using them to reduce cost and save the environment.

Today the Consumer Reports Blog featured TCP’s friend Ed Hammer, the father of the Compact Fluorescent Lamp, on their bimonthly segment “10 Questions for…” . In this segment of the blog, a Consumer Reports’ editor presents different leaders in their fields with you guessed it – 10 questions.

In this interview Ed explained how the energy crisis in the 70’s led him to design the first CFL, which is on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.

Ed also discussed other hot topics relating to CFLs including why it took so long for CFLs to reach stores, mercury concerns when a CFL breaks, and if CFLs here to stay.

To hear more from Ed Hammer about his revolutionary invention you can visit www.drop-the-hammer.com to listen to podcasts sponsored by TCP, Inc.

Many consumers gearing up to make the switch to energy efficient CFLs are overloaded with the past stereotypes about fluorescent lighting. One of the biggest concern in regards to everyday living is that CFLs cause headaches. Many consumers are unnecessarily worried that they have to choose between saving money on their electricity bill and living headache free.

According to a recent article on The Daily Green many experts say that the issue is being overblown and that there is no scientific evidence that CFLs cause headaches. “As far as I’m aware there is no association between headaches and the use of compact fluorescent lamps,” says Phil Scarbro of Energy Federation Incorporated (EFI), a leading distributor of energy efficiency-related products — including many CFLs.

The article goes on to state that Industry experts acknowledge that exposure to older, magnetically ballasted fluorescent bulbs could cause headaches due to their noticeable flicker rate.

Dave Naterali, TCP’s Director of Research & Development, states that Older, electromagnetic fluorescent lighting ballasts from the 1960s commonly caused problems, generally associated with a perception of flicker. These included drowsiness, headaches, migraines, and difficulty in concentration. The perceived flicker was caused by the lamps response to the frequency of the input power coming from the building’s electrical outlets and switches. The incoming power being supplied at 60Hz and was doubled to 120Hz to power the CFL. This means the lamp was powering on and off at a rate of 120 cycles per second. While the human eye could not consciously see the flicker, the effect of the pulses being sensed by the retina in the eye.

Newer, electronic ballasts use transistors to boost the input from 60Hz to the frequency range of 25 to 40 kHz. People who had problems with older electromagnetic ballast fluorescent lights seem to be less affected by compact fluorescent lights (CFL) and other fluorescent lights which use electronic ballasts. These ballasts use transistors to boost the input 60-Hz power to the frequency range of 25 to 40 kHz virtually eliminating the eye strain experienced with electromagnetic ballasts.

A recent blog regarding a melted and slightly charred, burnt out compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL) voiced a consumer’s concern about possible fire risks associated with using a CFL.

Unfortunately, as with many electrical products, there have been instances where CFLs have malfunctioned. But, this situation usually arises when the product is defective or improperly installed. It can also occur toward the end of the CFL’s life.

According to an ENERGY STAR response to a similar concern, when a CFL is near the end of its life, the tube’s arc may rise in temperature, possibly creating some short-lived smoke and odor.

While it may smoke, or the base or glass tubing may darken, an ENERGY STAR qualified CFL should never catch on fire.

Jerry Catherine, TCP’s Director of Engineering and Product Development, states this scenario occurs in about 0.0000001% of TCP manufactured CFLs. But that percentage is not low enough for TCP’s Engineering Department. TCP is currently developing a new technology that would essentially eliminate this experience. Even though this occurrence is not a hazard, it is an inconvenience that unnecessarily worries many consumers.

If one of your CFLs starts to smoke or melt, simply shut off the power, let it cool and remove it from the fixture.

For more sources with supporting information, visit the following links:

Visit CNW Group

Visit Renewable Planet