Code that puts difference between MV and MH ? This have nothing to do with appearance. They both give out white light (different CRI yes, but it is not anything the average user will immediately notice in a light in someone's garden, of all things)

This is aimed exactly at forbidding lamp types, for the sake of it

That is the CRI
And don't forget in the US are still very common not only the color corrected MV's, but as well the clear ones, with CRI around 15. And that is visible a lot.

The CRI of color corrected lamp is in the 5x area. Of basic MH in the 7x area. Not that big of difference

Besides. the objects under the light are rather static - There is the wall of the house and some plants. They may appear to be of different color between houses, but the same may happen from difference in the light as well as real difference between the houses or the grass near them. So we are back to "wrong color", let it be house or grass not car

Ok, this means its depending on what bulb plus its CRI its using?

The bill asks for certain minimum CRI for the larger light sources.

@Ash: I don't think the CRI problem is not with the color corrected MV's (where the CRI is in 60's or even 70's with the newest phosphor mixes), but with the clear ones (CRI about 15). The thing is, a 100W MV has the codes are the same regardless if it is color corrected or not. For the ballast matching it indeed does not matter, but to match the optics and use, these two are way different lamps, yet bearing the same ANSI code.
So for a fixture labeled "Hxy" many people tend to buy the cheapest "Hxy" lamp and that is usually the clear one. And the code makers had that lamp in mind as well, ignoring there are others as well.

Generally if the lamp you install does not cause any light spill outside of your property, does not shine into the sky (so the FCO would be a must, according to the bill) and the light color is quality enough to maintain good look of the street, no one would ever care what lamp you really have there...

Other than the CRI, i describe another thing :

House A and house B have lights installed on them. The lights light the wall of the house, grass, plants and garden furniture below
 - On house A the wall looks white, grass green, plants bright, garden furniture sand color
 - On house B the wall looks green/blueish, grass desaturated green, flowers dark, garden furniture dark grey

House B uses clear Merc right ?

Day comes. Under sunlight, house A is white and B is really painted cyan. Grass A is wet and B is a bit dry. Plants in the 2 gardens are just different plants. Same for the garden furniture

The lamps are the same



So, maybe just ban having things of a color different than your neighbor ?

In many cities you do not have that free choice about the house color, in the historical centers you have usually no choice at all (you need authority approval for any change in that,...), that is quite common on many places. Israel is quite new country, without any really historical districts or so, so you probably are not used to such regulations, but in Europe that is really very common and I would believe in the US it won't that rare either.
So in that respect the lighting quality regulation is just quite a small extension of that (aimed at nighttime look).

You may not have officially free choice, but..

Lets say the alowed color is white. You painted it in white, but now it looks different than the other houses (where the paint is allredy old). Or, the other houses are with new paint too, but the color of the paint is not exactly the same white (different mix..)

This cannot really be avoided, and have to be accepted. This is the order of magnitude of difference between different lamps too. Having 2700K and 6500K lamps on different homes would make much more difference, but that is allowed...



So no, this regulation have nothing to "city appearance". It is a lamp ban

One way to beat this all HPS only thing is to get DX bulbs lacquered to look like the olden caution yellow bulbs. Best not use cram lamps. No way lacquer would last that close to the arctube.

HPS fixtures are illegal too... below CRI and Kelvin temperature requirements.

Mercury vapor lights can still be used, but power companies are not allowed to install them anymore.

One way to beat this is to choose your town/state to one that minds their own business and not yours. You do that when you grow up and move out

Its beyond me how the stuff going on is even acceptable