NOT A BRIGHT IDEA

Trump Administration to Weaken Rules on Energy-Wasting Lightbulbs

Experts say banning incandescent bulbs could have saved the electricity equivalent to the output of at least 25 large power plants.

The Trump administration is reportedly set to weaken rules that would have made Americans use energy-saving light bulbs—a move experts say will needlessly contribute to greenhouse-gas emissions. The rules being weakened, which date from George W. Bush’s administration and were due to start in the new year, would have effectively banned incandescent bulbs. An estimate by the Natural Resources Defense Council stated that the ban could have saved the electricity equivalent to the output of at least 25 large power plants. But the Trump administration will significantly weaken the rules, The New York Times reports, saying the move would keep prices low. Shaylyn Hynes, a spokeswoman for the Department of Energy, said the move “will ensure that the choice of how to light homes and businesses is left to the American people, not the federal government.”