ENERGY STAR Continues Integral LED Light Bulb Spec Quest

October 12, 2009 - Last month, the U.S. Department of Energy’s ENERGY STAR published its Draft 3 revision to the proposed criteria for integral LED lamps (lamps that typically screw into an ANSI standardized lamp holder/socket, like most incandescent bulbs available today). Wanting to avoid some of the negative fallout that affected CFLs, this is the DoE’s effort to make sure that LED light bulbs that carry the ENERGY STAR logo will be “consumer acceptable” replacements for light bulbs currently available. The new draft incorporates stakeholder feedback on Draft 2.

Here are some noteworthy changes to Draft 3:

Lamp Types

Dimmable lamps: Draft 3 calls for manufacturers to clearly label their lamps as dimmable or non-dimmable, maintain a webpage containing dimmer compatibility information for consumers, and include a label on product packaging indicating potential compatibility limitations on existing dimmers.

Non-Standard Lamps: "Non-standard" lamps are defined as those of unusual shape, size, or dimension for use as replacements for low-wattage incandescent lamps. For non-standard lamps, Draft 3 sets the following requirement:

In addition, minimum lumens for non-standard lamps was lowered from 400 to 200 lumens -- roughly equivalent to a 25W incandescent lamp, so a lamp meeting these minimum output and efficacy requirements would draw only 4 watts.

Power Factor

Reliability Testing

Draft 3 calls for at least 6000 hours of lumen maintenance testing of the lamp under appropriate temperature conditions, in addition to a rapid cycle stress test. For lamps using LED packages, modules, or arrays for which LM-80* data is available, the DoE has provided an option for interim ENERGY STAR qualification after 3000 hours of testing.

* LM-80 is the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) approved method for measuring lumen depreciation of solid-state (LED) light sources, arrays and modules.

Minimum Life Requirements

The minimum life requirements have been revised to a) 15,000 hours to 70% lumen maintenance (L70) for Decorative lamps and b) 25,000 hours for all other lamp types.

Decorative Lamps

Draft 3 introduces the following table of table of minimum values by target wattage.

The DoE is now accepting stakeholder comments on Draft 3. These are due by October 16, 2009. The DoE then hope to release the final draft sometime in early November with an effective date of August 2010.

Read the text of Draft 3 on the ENERGY STAR website.