Do you remember the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007? Provisions began taking effect the first part of this year, with many popular incandescent reflector lamps being outlawed.
- If you used to buy 100 watt bulbs, look for a bulb with 1600 lumens
- If you used to buy 75 watt bulbs, look for a bulb with 1100 lumens
- If you used to buy 60 watt bulbs, look for a bulb with 800 lumens
- If you used to buy 40 watt bulbs, look for a bulb with 450 lumens
Watts are a better predictor of how hot a light bulb will be than how bright it is. Lumens tell you how much light a bulb will provide.
To make it easier to compare light bulbs, the Federal Trade Commission has designed a new label which you have probably already seen. It was required to be on all packages starting this year.
It is important to look for the ENERGY STAR on light bulb packaging, which means that they meet strict criteria set by EPA for both energy efficiency and quality. Other bulbs may be cheaper, but the tests that ENERGY STAR requires are important, and necessary for consumers to get the performance they expect.
Update: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ended the ENERGY STAR specifications for lamps and luminaires December 31, 2024.
In absence of the ENERGY STAR mark, the Federal Trade Commission’s Lighting Facts labels will continue to communicate lamp performance to consumers, including brightness, estimated yearly energy cost, life, light appearance as the expression of the correlated color temperature,
and energy used.
Light bulbs are great but these days light bulbs are even better because we have some energy efficient alternatives like the LED light bulbs which consumes less electricity.