LED Lighting in California Just Got Serious

California’s new ruling on the LED and light bulb laws have paved the way for newer, more efficient LED bulbs to take the place of traditional incandescents in 2018.

Incandescent lighting manufacturers presented a plea for a court order to prevent the new regulation from taking place on New Year’s Day, but the motion was denied, effectively turning the gears on the eventual disappearance of traditional light bulbs from store shelves.

The Department of Energy is addressing concerns by traditional lighting manufacturers about a double standard for other states where they may still sell the outdated bulbs. However, since California is a state with such a high consumption of energy, the positive effects of this lighting ban would be too significant to pass up.

Specialty lighting products such as 3-way bulbs, Christmas lights and oven lights won’t be affected. But consumers will now be presented with only the most energy efficient lighting options when shopping for major indoor and outdoor lighting projects.

The new standard states that general-use bulbs should be able to generate 45 lumens of brightness or more for each wattage energy consumed. LED-based bulbs won’t have a problem with this, but most incandescent options can produce lumens output of somewhere between 10 to 15 per watt energy.

The mandatory switch to LED lighting in California does present a lot of benefits for both savings and energy consumption. Although outdoor LED landscape lighting could be slightly more expensive as compared to traditional outdoor lighting setups, your electric bill is reduced as soon as you start using newer lighting technology. Furthermore, innovations in the LED industry has created some very interesting and functional outdoor lighting design that’s compatible in a variety of applications. The Natural Resource Defense Council has released in a report that the state can save up to $1 billion each year once homes, businesses and industrial facilities have replaced their traditional incandescent bulbs with LED lighting.

LED Lighting For Municipalities

While this law only affects consumers, municipalities across California would be wise to switch to LED as well for all the same reasons. Lowering energy consumption and saving money on electricity are primary benefits, but that is just the beginning. To find out more, contact Great Basin Lighting on our website and find out why we are Northern California’s most trusted outdoor LED lighting source!