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History
- Referred to environmental conservation
- Referred to environmental conservation
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the environmental conservation law, in relation to enacting the "New York state lighting efficiency and toxics reduction act"
Purpose
The purpose of the bill is to establish a strategy for substantially increasing the use of energy efficient lighting and phasing out the use of energy inefficient lighting over the next decade. The bill also requires the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to establish a schedule for the phase down in the use of toxic materials in all lighting products and establish a system of manufacturer responsibility for the recycling of hazardous lighting products that is free and convenient.
Summary of provisions
The bill would require DEC to: 1) In consultation with the Public Service Commission and the Energy Research and Development Authority, develop a plan for limiting electrical energy consumption for lighting by July 1, 2008, with a goal for limiting electrical consumption by 2018 to 50% of 2007 use levels for indoor residential lighting and 75% of 2007 use levels for indoor commercial and outdoor use lighting; and 2) Promulgate regulations establishing schedules for reducing the maximum levels of mercury and lead per lumen hour in general purpose lights sold or offered for sale in the state. It also requires that every manufacturer of general purpose lights sold in the state and containing hazardous materials ensure that by July 1, 2009 a system is in place to provide for the collection and recycling of any end-of-life general purpose lights generated in the state.
Read the full memo (616 words)
Justification
According to the United States Department of Energy, energy consumption for all lighting in the U.S. is estimated to be about 22% of the total electricity generated. Consumers and businesses spend approximately $58 billion a year to light their homes, offices, streets, and factories. Most residences still use traditional incandescent light bulbs, which convert approximately ten percent of the electricity they use to produce light with the remaining 90 percent converted to heat. According to Energy Star, a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, the energy used in the average home can be responsible for more than twice the greenhouse gas emissions of the average car.
Compact fluorescent bulbs (or "CFLs"), one example of an energy efficient lighting alternative, while more expensive to purchase than traditional incandescent lamps, use two-thirds less energy than standard incandescent bulbs and last up to 10 times longer, with an average life span of five years. It is estimated that a compact bulb saves $30 or more in energy costs before it burns out. According to the Lighting Efficiency Coalition (which includes the Alliance to Save Energy, the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, Californians Against Waste, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Earth Day Network and Phillips Electronics), replacing standard incandescent lamps with CFLs nationally would reduce the annual energy demand for lighting by the equivalent of what is generated by 30 nuclear power plants or up to 80 coal burning power plants. Additionally, more than 158 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions and 5,700 pounds of airborne mercury emissions would be eliminated.
However, CFLs and other lighting alternatives contain trace amounts of mercury and/or other toxic substances and should be treated as household hazardous waste and recycled. The bill's provision requiring a system for their collection and recycling addresses concerns over toxic substances in lamps.
Legislative history
2007-08: S.6124
Fiscal implications
Significant savings could be realized by purchasing and using more energy efficient light bulbs.
Effective date
This act would take effect on the first of January next succeeding the date on which it shall have become law.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.