Biden Begins Enforcing Light Bulb Ban
The Department of Energy (DOE) is moving ahead with regulations that will ban popular incandescent and similar halogen light bulbs from being sold in the United States, a move that has been met with fierce criticism from Republicans.
Beginning Tuesday, a nationwide ban will be enforced, preventing retailers and manufacturers from selling traditional bulbs and instead requiring them to sell energy-efficient light-emitting diode (LED) alternatives.
“It’s impossible for Democrats to leave us alone," Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., tweeted in response to the Biden administration's enforcement of the rules. "States must fight back.”
Critics of the regulations said that DOE estimates of $3 billion in savings per year on utility bills are "speculative, assumption-driven, and prone to bias in the hands of agencies with a regulatory agenda." They also warned that the regulations would especially impact lower-income households who are less likely to purchase energy-efficient bulbs.
“We believe that further regulatory interference in the marketplace is unwarranted given that more energy efficient lighting choices, namely light-emitting diode bulbs, are already available for those consumers who prefer them over incandescent bulbs," warned a coalition of free market and consumer groups in a comment letter.
The move comes four months after the DOE finalized its regulations in April, and reverses a Trump administration rule that sought to protect incandescent light bulbs and afford consumers the freedom to choose what kinds of products they want to purchase.
DOC Secretary Jennifer Granholm nevertheless heralded the move, contending that the measure will “accelerate progress to deliver the best products to American consumers and build a better and brighter future.”
However, its not just light bulbs that energy efficiency regulations are targeting, as the DOE has proposed and finalized new standards for a wide variety of other appliances including gas stoves, clothes washers, refrigerators, dishwashers, water heaters, and air conditioners, as well as fan and dehumidifiers.
Environmental groups, on the other hand, have hailed the actions taken by the Biden administration, with Joe Vukovich, an energy efficiency advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council, suggesting that rules banning inefficient light bulbs were “long overdue.”
The DOE has also warned retailers for months about its ban enforcement in order to ensure industry-wide compliance and faced immediate fines as high as $130,000 per day.