100-Watt Bulb on Its Way Out, Despite Bill

A rider attached to the omnibus spending bill passed Friday prohibits the Energy Department from enforcing new efficiency standards on light bulbs. The standards require bulbs to use 28 percent less energy to make as much light as the 100-watt staple.

The standards, which will still go into effect Jan. 1, affect only the 100-watt bulb in 2012, but will effectively phase out standard 40-, 60- and 75-watt incandescents by 2014. Under the law, merchants will be allowed to sell their remaining inventory but cannot replenish it.

It was not immediately clear what the practical effect would be of the new prohibition. The requirement that manufacturers stop making or importing traditional 100-watt bulbs remains the law of the land. The rider would simply prevent the Energy Department from assessing fines or stopping sales of scofflaw bulbs.

General Electric, a major bulb maker said it would continue to abide by the new standards despite the Congressional action.

“The provision in the bill does not repeal the lighting standards, but only removes funds for enforcement,” said David A. Schuellerman, a spokesman for the company’s appliances and lighting unit. “We are required to abide by the standards, and, of course, intend to comply with our legal obligation.”

The lighting industry and major retailers have already invested heavily in offering bulbs to meet the new standards, signed into law in 2007 by President George W. Bush, and are unlikely to shift course now.

“Bottom line, the standards are moving forward unabated,” said Noah Horowitz, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council, which has been active in promoting the standards. Calling the delay in enforcement a “speed bump,” he added, “Incandescent light bulbs are not going away due to the standard, they are just getting better. The new ones that meet the standard will use 28 percent less power and look and perform exactly like the old one.”

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