Author Topic: States banning high-CRI linear fluorescent lamps!  (Read 5084 times)
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States banning high-CRI linear fluorescent lamps! « on: April 02, 2021, 02:02:06 AM » Author: nicksfans
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Just when I thought we were over outlawing more fluorescent lamps, I discovered that several U.S. states recently banned (or are about to ban) the sale of all linear fluorescent lamps with a CRI of 87 or higher:

Vermont (effective July 2020)
Hawaii (effective January 2021)
Colorado (effective January 2021)
Washington D.C. (effective January 2022)

Bills banning high-CRI fluorescents have also been introduced in Massachusetts and New Jersey, as well as a few other states that ended up not passing them.

These bans effectively close the decade-old CRI loophole in EISA/EPACT, which allowed F40T12 bi-pin and F96T12 Slimline lamps to exist in colors like CWX and DX. I can see either of two things happening in the next few years:

1. The manufacturers will decide it no longer makes sense to keep producing/importing lamps that are banned in several states, or:
2. The state-level bans will inspire a similar federal ban.

Either way, the U.S. could lose all new F40T12s and F96T12s before long. It'll happen anyway, bans or not, but this could very well accelerate it. Sad times.

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Re: States banning high-CRI linear fluorescent lamps! « Reply #1 on: April 02, 2021, 04:02:38 AM » Author: HomeBrewLamps
The amount of annoyance I have for this BS is astounding.

Maybe if we focused more effort on upgrading our power production to clean sources and less on banning bulbs,  we wouldn't have so many issues in the world right now. 

Nuclear power combined with wind and geothermal would knock out the carbon issue.

But people too dumb to open a text book explaining how nuclear power work, freak out and try to keep it away from their communities "to protect themselves".

If energy was produced 100% by sustainable sources, guess what would be the most environmentally friendly option?

Incandescent.

Yeah I said it.

It's made of glass, tungsten, steel,  copper and a little bit of solder.
« Last Edit: April 02, 2021, 04:17:48 AM by HomeBrewLamps » Logged

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Re: States banning high-CRI linear fluorescent lamps! « Reply #2 on: April 02, 2021, 04:35:32 AM » Author: Silverliner
As someone who works as a freight associate for a major home improvement chain, I am all too familiar with the regulations. I see labels on the cases I handle containing high CRI F40T12 and F96T12 that shows the states where they can't be sold nor used. Also apparently Mexico banned T12 lamps as they also have this marking on the cases. One thing, I can't believe California hasn't banned them. Despite other regulations that requires 90 CRI California specification LEDs and bans on halogens and a few more types of incandescents that are still sold in other states.
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Re: States banning high-CRI linear fluorescent lamps! « Reply #3 on: April 02, 2021, 04:42:14 AM » Author: High Intensity
I have to agree, I think these bans are just pointless, especially since this will just force places that still use F40T12s or F96T12s to replace/retrofit their fixtures, which is something not all places have the budget for.

Out here, I got to see what happens when a bulb type is suddenly discontinued, as a lot of places in my area used SOX lighting either in parking lots or on the buildings, and when Philips pulled the plug on production, suddenly, a bunch of places had to retrofit or replace every SOX fixture, even if they did not have the budget to. So the places that could afford to get decent retrofits or fixtures got those, while the places that could not afford those ended up getting the cheapest fixtures they can get their hands on, and a lot of these cheap fixtures and retrofits would become ripe for the landfills (like in this case).

Now I understand that F40 and F96 fixture are likely cheaper to retrofit, but that's only half the battle, since you usually need to hire someone to do so, and if you hire the cheapest electrician you can find, you may end up with work that looks like this.
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Re: States banning high-CRI linear fluorescent lamps! « Reply #4 on: April 03, 2021, 12:37:11 AM » Author: tolivac
Another STUPID ban by STUPID people!
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Re: States banning high-CRI linear fluorescent lamps! « Reply #5 on: April 03, 2021, 12:56:41 AM » Author: Bulbman256
Why would you be banning higher cri lamps, aren't they better than halophosphate for color? Can you buy under 87 cri lamps? ??? ??? ???
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Re: States banning high-CRI linear fluorescent lamps! « Reply #6 on: April 03, 2021, 01:18:11 AM » Author: joseph_125
The high CRI ban appears to be intended to fully ban F40T12 and F96T12 lamps for sale. Standard IE non high CRI lamps in the F40T12 and F96T12 formats were covered in a earlier ban, which is why the high CRI F40 and F96 lamps started becoming commonplace.

So if someone wants high CRI fluorescent lamps after they're all banned, will they be forced to switch to LED? That itself has a problem as most "standard" LEDs are only 80CRI.

I suppose one could retrofit to F32T8 or F99T8 which only require a ballast swap, or retrofit to direct wire LED. Both of which at least don't require much hacking up to install.

To be honest, I'm not really sure how big of a impact this will be as most large users of T12 lamps (large commerical, large retail, institutional etc) have long since retrofitted to T8 and LED. Save for a few places, T12s are really only widely used by residential users and small businesses. 
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Re: States banning high-CRI linear fluorescent lamps! « Reply #7 on: April 03, 2021, 01:30:27 AM » Author: nicksfans
Can you buy under 87 cri lamps? ??? ??? ???

In most sizes, yes. However, about a decade ago, EISA set minimum efficacy standards for F40T12 and F96T12 lamps--standards which virtually none of these lamps actually met. In fact, the only T12s I know of that met the standards were the GE F96T12/XL/HL41/WM (and HL35), now out of production I believe. EISA did have an exemption for lamps with a CRI of 87 or higher, because it's more difficult for high-CRI lamps to achieve high efficacy. The manufacturers, aside from GE, decided not to develop new phosphors to meet the standards, and instead began offering only those lamps that were exempt based on CRI, which ironically lowered the overall efficacy of F40T12 and F96T12 offerings. It is this loophole that the new state bans are closing.

Basically, lamps with CRI below 87 that are legally sold today will continue to be legally sold. However, that means no current F40T12s or F96T12s, and I'm sure manufacturers won't bother developing any new phosphors these days.

This means that consumers in affected states will have NO linear fluorescent options--in any size--above 86 CRI, so they will have to use LED, CFL, or incandescent lamps to get better CRI. It also means they will have NO F40T12 or F96T12 lamps, period.......and this could spread nationwide.
« Last Edit: April 03, 2021, 01:38:06 AM by nicksfans » Logged

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Re: States banning high-CRI linear fluorescent lamps! « Reply #8 on: April 06, 2021, 05:25:56 PM » Author: streetlight98
Dont they make triphosphor F40s? They could just use the same phosphors as the T8s. Such a shame they're still beating this near-death horse.
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Re: States banning high-CRI linear fluorescent lamps! « Reply #9 on: April 06, 2021, 06:03:40 PM » Author: nicksfans
They do, but it’s not a ban on a particular phosphor.

EISA practically eliminated F40 and F96T12s under 87 CRI.

This legislation bans all linear fluorescents 87 CRI and up.

The only solution is for the manufacturers to make lamps with CRI below 87 that meet the EISA efficacy standards, which I’m guessing they can’t be bothered to do. I’m not sure if using the 800 series phosphors from T8s would be sufficient to meet the standards (it would be nice!)
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Re: States banning high-CRI linear fluorescent lamps! « Reply #10 on: April 06, 2021, 08:22:33 PM » Author: Patrick
They could make T12 lamps that pass, but the phosphors would be expensive.  Had there been no CRI exemption at the time, we might have seen some of these on the market, as well as T10 alternatives.  I'd rather there have been no ban, but if there was too be one I think we'd have been better off without the CRI loophole.  It was never intended for general service lamps, but ended up that way.  At this point manufacturers will likely push LED retrofits rather than bother with new fluorescent varieties that can meet the rules.
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Re: States banning high-CRI linear fluorescent lamps! « Reply #11 on: April 06, 2021, 10:20:22 PM » Author: Desultory13
I have to agree with Patrick in that manufacturers will simply push LED retrofits rather than developing newer varieties of fluorescents.
There simply is no market for fluorescents anymore.
It's a sad fact to face but the time of the fluorescent has simply come and gone.
Working as an electrician nobody wants them anymore.
Larger businesses in particular don't want them for a number of reasons.
Where I really notice it is from homeowners.
Today's generation are absolutely appalled to have them in their houses anymore.
The current trend in residential lighting is imitation vintage fixtures from the early 1900s that use LED imitations of early Edison bulbs.
That's all that's installed anymore.
So I think that the bottom line here is the bans mean nothing, the passing of time is going to put an end to fluorescent lighting.
It kind of reminds me of what happened years ago when digital TVs became available.
Sure the stores still sold CRT sets but after so long production simply ceased and the same will soon happen to fluorescents.
The way I see it the best thing that any of us can do is to collect and save what's out there so we'll be able to enjoy it in the not so distant future.
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Re: States banning high-CRI linear fluorescent lamps! « Reply #12 on: April 07, 2021, 12:05:49 AM » Author: xmaslightguy
My state's on that list. Honestly I don't know why they'd even waste their time/expense enacting a ban like that :roll:
Simple fact is that fluorescent (T12 in particular) is a dead technology now. You rarely see T12's in use now, and there can't be much of a market for them anymore. I have a feeling that even T8's will disappear from store shelves in not that many more years...simply because of lack of sales.
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Re: States banning high-CRI linear fluorescent lamps! « Reply #13 on: April 07, 2021, 12:13:29 AM » Author: Desultory13
My state's on that list. Honestly I don't know why they'd even waste their time/expense enacting a ban like that :roll:
Simple fact is that fluorescent (T12 in particular) is a dead technology now. You rarely see T12's in use now, and there can't be much of a market for them anymore. I have a feeling that even T8's will disappear from store shelves in not that many more years...simply because of lack of sales.
T8 is a dead technology now too.
Again as an electrician all I see are fluorescents removed from service.
Existing T8 installations are being replamped everyday with LED retrofits.
In new construction or remodels LEDs are installed, not T8s.
So I just don't see the concept behind these bans unless it's all just part of the bigger picture to phase out fluorescent lighting once and for all.
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Re: States banning high-CRI linear fluorescent lamps! « Reply #14 on: April 07, 2021, 12:22:52 AM » Author: xmaslightguy
@Desultory:

Yep I see T8 being converted to LED everywhere here too (either with retrofit tubes, or full fixture replacement). And like you say *any* new construction/remodel is LED, not fluorescent.
The only one I see maybe hanging on a bit longer than the others is T5 .. but even that is basically a dead tech too.
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