By Andrea Lillo While Thomas Edison’s commercially viable
electric incandescent light bulb in the late 1800s dramatically
changed how we live, it’s now undergoing a change of its own, as
new lighting regulations take place next month nationwide. As of
Jan. 1, 2012, 100-watt incandescent light bulbs must meet new
efficiency standards (generally, about 30 percent more
efficient) by reducing wattage but maintaining lumen levels
according to the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of
2007. Regulations for 75-watt incandescent bulbs take place Jan.
1, 2013, and 60- and 40-watt bulbs on Jan. 1, 2014, throughout
the U.S. (California is the exception, as it’s enacted or will
enact the regulations one year earlier, with 100-watt
incandescent bulb regulations having taken place as of this past
January. Next month, the 75-watt incandescent bulb regulations
will take effect in that state.) New regulations will be enacted
in 2020, when all “A-lamps” will be held to a single efficacy
requirement of 45 lumens per wa