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Replies to post #301100 on Tornado Alley (PROG)
02/13/19 3:52 PM
02/13/19 4:05 PM
This revolution has been driven by “sharp cost reductions and performance improvements, relatively short replacement cycles for incumbent technologies, and aggressive policy support (including bans on incandescent technology in major markets such as the U.S., the E.U. and China),” as Goldman Sachs detailed in a 2015 report.
From 2008 to 2014, prices for LED light bulbs dropped a remarkable 90 percent, and they have kept dropping. You can now buy a 60-watt-equivalent soft-wide LED bulb with a 10-year lifetime for a mere $1.
With the initial price dropping sharply while the ultra-low lifecycle costs also keep dropping, you end up with a revolution?.
Before leaving office, the Obama Energy Department added one rule to build on this success. Whereas the original rule focused on the most widely used home lighting, starting in 2020, the new rule would apply the standard to bulbs for recessed lighting, candelabras, heavy duty fixtures, and others. These more expansive standards are what Trump is seeking to repeal.
This repeal would cost consumers $12 billion a year in 2025 — some $100 per household each year — according to analysis from The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. It would mean a stunning 540 million extra tons of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere by 2030, according to research from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
The market has already spoken, and LEDs have won around the world. Trump cannot stop the global tide of innovation, but he can slow the penetration of efficient lighting in this country — at an enormous cost to the pocketbooks and health of consumers.
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