(Holler if this has already been diaried. I looked and didn't find any diaries about Nevada's new law.)
First Australia did it. Ontario was next, followed by the rest of Canada.
Word is that the EU is working on a policy. South Africa would like to do it, now that they may be able to be self-sufficient in supplies. Cuba is making the transition, and it sounds like Venezuela is, too.
We're witnessing the end of the incandescent bulb as the dominant lighting technology. But what's happening here in the USA?
*chirp*
*chirp*
Not really ... I'm delighted to be kidding about the crickets chirping!
California and North Carolina both had bills pending this year. Rhode Island and Connecticut are both taking a look. There was even a bill introduced in Congress.
But it's Nevada that has become the first U.S. state to adopt a law effectively phasing out the sale of incandescent bulbs for most purposes. Nevada's AB178 (pdf) sets a minimum efficiency standard for sales of most types of lighting, beginning in 2012, to a level that will make most incandescent bulbs unsaleable in the state. It also requires state government to increase the standard after further study. The legislation passed both the Democratic-controlled Nevada Assembly and Republican-controlled Nevada Senate unanimously, and was signed into law earlier this month by Republican Gov. Jim Gibbons.
Are new laws and regulations like this going to make any difference? Hell yes!
Common incandescent bulbs typically produce about 15 to 18 lumens per Watt of power input. Nevada's new standard requires at least 25 lumens per Watt, and will increase from there. Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFLs) produce in the range of 45-60 lumens per Watt. LED lighting is available that produces 70 lumens per Watt, and there are prototypes that produce 150 lumens per Watt, but these haven't yet become as mainstream as CFLs. CFLs and LEDs have higher purchase prices, but are so efficient and last so long that they have much lower overall cost to own and use than incandescent bulbs. However you slice it, highly cost-effective lighting is available that's 3-4 times as efficient as incandescent bulbs.
The total impact? Southwest Energy Efficiency Project estimates (pdf) that the Nevada law will save consumers more than a billion dollars over time, while reducing carbon dioxide emissions by nearly a million tons a year. Multiply that times all of the other jurisdictions that have taken, or soon will take, similar steps, and it's huge progress.
My question is, which in other states would like to shepherd legislation through their state legislatures? Now that Nevada's done it, through unanimous and bipartisan legislative action, the way has been paved for other states to follow.