Roy Johnson of Johnson Art Studio Lighting Design loves his job. As a lighting designer, he ensures the quality of light in our homes and businesses. And as California phases out incandescent light bulbs, he and his fellow light designers have their work cut out for them.
On January 1, energy-sucking 100-watt incandescent bulbs vanished from shelves in California stores, typically well ahead of the national schedule to phase out incandescents, which waste some 90 percent of the electricity they use by generating heat instead of visible, usable light. Already, 72-watt incandescent halogen and 23-watt compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs have replaced them. These alternative bulbs are equally bright but stay cooler and therefore use less energy.
Over the next couple of years, 75-watt, 60-watt, and 40-watt bulbs will also be phased out; by January 1, 2013, the new maximum incandescent wattage will be a feeble 29 watts. According to Noelle Bell, Assistant Program Manager at RightLights, a limb of the nonprofit environmental consultancy Ecology Action, “It’s like saying that gas-guzzlers are no longer allowed to be manufactured. A policy might start by saying that trucks that only get 10 miles per gallon are no longer allowed to be produced. They would start with the worst offenders. This is what they are trying to do with the new incandescents policy.”
Once incandescents are phased out, consumers will be left with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), halogen incandescent bulbs and the ultimate in green lighting technology, the light-emitting diode, or LED. Then the weighing of costs and benefits will begin.
CFLs are currently the most popular and affordable alternative. A 60-watt Feit Electric Twist CFL, which measures 800 lumens and has a life of 8,000 hours, costs $4 and uses 75 percent less energy than an incandescent bulb. But it contains mercury and must be recycled carefully. Halogen incandescents, which use 20 percent less energy than traditional bulbs, don’t have mercury, but they last one-fourth as long as CFLs and they cost one and a half times more.
Then there’s the LED. An LED lamp is a highly efficient conglomeration of light-emitting diodes in the form of a normal-looking bulb. A consumer can now replace incandescent lamps with interchangeable LED bulbs, which range in color from warm yellow to cool blue. One product on the market, the Philips Soft White LED light bulb, provides the equivalent of 60 watts of light while using only 12 watts of energy—all while approximating the cozy glow of a traditional incandescent bulb. It produces lumens equivalent to a 60-watt bulb and has a life of 25,000 hours. The catch? It costs $40.
Yet designers and lighting enthusiasts agree that the LED, which can last for up to 25 years, is the ultimate light of the future. The diodes use little power, radiate little heat and, because they are resistant to shock, vibration, heat and cold, are low-maintenance and suitable for almost any environment.
Progressive Californians, including local designers such as Johnson, are using the shift in light standards to try out new and ever-improving technologies. Last month the Westside lighting store Illuminee held a “light tasting” so consumers could see what kinds of products are coming down the pike in the wake of the incandescent phaseout. “We’re at the dawn of a whole new age of energy efficiency, and the LEDs are going to be a big part of that,” says Johnson.
In preparation for a green future, Johnson is currently hard at work designing fixtures for LED lamps in addition to halogen and fluorescent lamps. Working with Lumenetix of Scotts Valley, an LED manufacturer, Johnson designs lamps that approximate the warm, homey glow of incandescence using LED technology. His ultimate goal is to create lights that meet California building code requirements for dedicated fluorescent lighting (meaning the fixtures won’t accept just any bulb) in kitchens and bathrooms, but bypassing fluorescence altogether. Lumenetix, unique in making a dedicated LED light, is an ideal partner. “I’ve got three light fixtures right now that I’ve designed using their elements, and more coming up,” says Johnson.
Looks like at least one bright idea is working out.
