Ban on sale of incandescent lightbulbs takes effect

SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) - A ban on incandescent lightbulbs with limited exceptions went into effect Tuesday. The next time you go to change a lightbulb in your house, reach for an LED one. This week, a federal ban went into place this week, ending the sale of most incandescent lightbulbs with limited exceptions including nightlights and halogens used in shop lights.

The switch may seem sudden, but Western New England University Professor John Baick explained it’s been years in the making.

“This is something that was actually passed back in 2007 under the administration of George W. Bush. It’s clearly designed decrease energy usage, to increase efficiency,” Baick said. “It took a long time to go into effect because this was actually blocked and then overturned by the Trump administration and one of the things that the Biden administration did is reinstate these laws, but it took a couple of years to put them back in place.”

We stopped by Rocky’s Ace Hardware in Springfield Thursday to check out their inventory. General Manager Lou Courteau told Western Mass News that most customers already switched to LEDs, so they got rid of very little inventory.

“The life of the lightbulb is much longer. It is much brighter,” Courteau explained. “On your incandescents, if you’re running 40 watts, you are actually running 40 watts. When you look at the LEDs, you can be running a 40 watt lightbulb and only be using six watts.”

Another great perk to switching to LEDs is you save a lot of money on your electricity bill, which is always a bright idea. Eversource spokesperson Priscilla Ress told us many customers are already use these bulbs and reaping the benefits.

“It’s the quickest best way to save energy. It’s quick, it’s effective, and we have done such a good job through Mass Save. Our customers have switched over to LED at such a high rate, so this has been incredibly successful,” Ress noted. “The savings, pretty amazing, and you will see that immediately when you switch to those LED bulbs.”

Ress said Eversource has multiple resources available to customers. You can CLICK HERE for additional ways to save money on electricity.

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