DOE Proposes Senseless and Dangerous Rollback of Energy-Saving Light Bulb Standards
WASHINGTON, DC -- The Department of Energy today proposed a rollback of energy efficiency standards for the light bulbs designed to fill about 2.7 billion of America’s lighting sockets, nearly cutting in half the number of bulbs to be covered by its 2020 energy-saving rules.
The proposal would remove three-way bulbs, candle-shaped bulbs used in chandeliers and sconces, reflector bulbs used in recessed lighting, and the round globe bulbs typically used in bathroom lighting fixtures from the scope of energy-saving lighting standards scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2020, The result will be $12 billion in additional consumer energy bill costs and the need to generate 25 coal-burning plants’ worth of extra electricity every year.
Following is a statement from Noah Horowitz, director of NRDC’s Center for Energy Efficiency Standards:
“This is another senseless and illegal Trump administration rollback that will needlessly hike our energy bills and spew tons more pollution into the air, harming the health of our children and the environment. Even with today’s highly efficient LED light bulbs on the market, Trump’s Department of Energy wants to keep 2.7 billion of our lighting sockets mired in a world of dinosaur, energy-guzzling lighting technology that basically hasn’t been updated for more than a hundred years.
“What’s worse, DOE is making such a dangerous proposal despite the recent dire warnings about the fate of our planet if we don’t urgently address climate change. This is yet another Trump administration move that is almost certainly going to end up in court.”
Horowitz also has posted a reaction blog at: https://www.nrdc.org/experts/noah-horowitz/annual-cost-light-bulb-standards-rollback-12-billion
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The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Since 1970, our lawyers, scientists, and other environmental specialists have worked to protect the world's natural resources, public health, and the environment. NRDC has offices in New York City; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Chicago; Bozeman, Montana; and Beijing. Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC