California has adopted energy efficiency standards that retire incandescent light bulbs and promise to save consumers and businesses about $1 billion annually on their electric bills once the estimated 250 million sockets still containing inefficient bulbs are switched over to CFLs or LEDs. The standards require light bulbs manufactured on or after Jan. 1, 2018, to achieve a minimum efficiency level of 45 lumens per watt—three times better than the old incandescent bulbs. However, California retailers are allowed to sell through their inventories of inefficient light bulbs manufactured prior to Jan. 1, 2018.
California is the first state to take regulatory action as part of the country’s gradual transition to energy-saving bulbs, per a 2007 national energy bill passed by Congress with bipartisan support and signed into law by President George W. Bush.
