Rebates for Consumer-Friendly LED Light Bulbs Coming Our Way?

Consumer rebate programs for products using new efficient technologies don't guarantee market transformation. A good example of this is the low adoption rate of disappointing CFL light bulbs in California since the early 1990s, when the state's utilities introduced their first CFL rebate programs.

To prevent history from repeating itself, the California Energy Commission (CEC) recently published a staff report (Proposed Voluntary California Quality Light-Emitting Diode Lamp Specification ) that suggests minimum performance specifications for general service LED screw-based lamps. The goal is to provide some basic LED lamp performance requirements to utilities to ensure that the LED lamps covered by future utility rebate programs will meet or exceed customer expectations.

The proposed specification applies only to LED lamps that are designed to replace screw type incandescent bulbs in light fixtures. Excluded are colored LED lamps, LED light strips and rope lights, linear LED pin-based lamps, and LED integrated luminaires.

The CEC report proposes harmonizing with a number of requirements under consideration by the U.S. EPA in their ENERGY STAR® Lamp Program, Version 1, Draft 2, including luminous efficacy levels and a minimum rated life of ≥25,000 hours. The report suggests a tighter requirement for residential LED lamp power factor, raising the EPA requirement from ≥0.7 to ≥0.9.

Download a copy of the proposed Quality LED Lamp Specification.

The Commission held a workshop on October 11th in Sacramento for stakeholders and other interested parties to discuss the proposal. For information on the workshop.