Luminous Efficacy Standards for General Purpose Lights

Assembly Bill 178, adopted in June 2007, established efficacy* standards for general purpose lights sold in the state of Nevada. The bill set the required efficacy at 25 lumens per watt (lm/W) of electricity, and that standard will be in effect between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2015. According to the legislation, the Director of the Office of Energy must adopt regulations to establish a new minimum standard to take effect on January 1, 2016, which must exceed the provisional standard of 25 lm/W. As used in the legislation, general purpose lights include “lamps, bulbs, tubes or other devices that provide functional illumination for indoor and outdoor use. The term does not include specialty lighting or lighting necessary to provide illumination for persons with special needs.” NRS 701.260 updates the previous standard, so that by January 1, 2020, the minimum standard of energy efficiency established by the director must meet or exceed 45 lumens per watt of electricity consumed. 


*Efficacy refers to the overall energy efficiency of light and is measured in lumens (measure of light output) per watt (measure of power input). The efficacy of a typical incandescent light bulb ranges between 12 lm/W and 18 lm/W. The efficacy of a typical compact fluorescent bulb is between 45 lm/W and 60 lm/W.