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.

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.

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.

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.

TCP currently has six videos available for your viewing pleasure including: The History of Lighting and CFLs, Volcanoes Power Plants and CFLs, Lighting and Phosphors in CFLs, Light Color and CFLs, CFLs and The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, and the Bright Town Trailer.

So stop on by TCP’s YouTube page – http://www.youtube.com/user/TCPnetwork and check out our videos we have posted as well as some of our favorite videos posted by others.