BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1109
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Date of Hearing: April 24, 2007
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AND TOXIC MATERIALS
Jared Huffman, Chair
AB 1109 (Huffman) - As Amended: April 12, 2007
SUBJECT : Energy Resources: lighting efficiency: hazardous
waste.
SUMMARY : Creates the California Lighting Efficiency and Toxics
Reduction Act. Specifically, this bill :
1)Makes findings and declarations regarding lighting efficiency
and toxics reduction.
2)Defines "general purpose lights" to mean any lamp, bulb, tube,
or other devices that provide functional illumination in
homes, offices and outdoors. General purpose lights do not
include lights needed to provide special needs lighting for
individuals with exceptional needs or a specified list of
specialty lighting.
3)Requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) to
prescribe schedules for reducing the levels of mercury and
lead in general purpose lights.
4)Requires manufacturers of general purpose lights that contain
hazardous materials to ensure that on or after July 1, 2009 a
system is in place to provide for the collection and recycling
of end-of-life general purpose lights generated in this state.
5)Requires manufacturers of general purpose lights that contain
hazardous materials to, on or before July 1, 2008, submit a
collection and recycling plan to DTSC.
6)Requires the California Energy Commission (CEC) to approve a
statewide electrical consumption limit for lighting by 2018
that is equivalent to a 50% reduction in consumption for
indoor lighting and a 25% reduction in commercial lighting and
outdoor lighting from 2007 levels.
7)Requires the Department of General Services, in coordination
with the CEC, to cease the purchase of general purpose lights
in state facilities that do not meet the standards set in by
CEC.
EXISTING LAW
1)Provides DTSC authority over the management and disposal of
universal waste, including fluorescent tubes.
2)Requires DTSC to adopt regulations to prohibit the sale of
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certain electronic products in California that are banned from
being sold in the European Union due to the presence of heavy
metals.
3)Requires the CEC to create energy efficiency standards for new
construction and for numerous electronic products.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS : According to the author, the purpose of this bill is
"to significantly increase the efficiency of indoor and outdoor
lighting systems. Increasing lighting efficiency will save
California residential and business ratepayers billions annually
in avoided energy costs. Cutting lighting's share of
California's energy consumption in half will, in and of itself,
significantly reduce pollution, including NOx, SOx, mercury and
CO2 emissions. At the same time, any responsible proposal for
updating lighting must also include requirements that
manufacturers utilize the latest technology to reduce, and where
possible, eliminate the use of toxic heavy metals such as lead
and mercury. Additionally, manufacturers and retailers must
partner to provide consumers with a convenient opportunity to
recycle all hazardous lighting devices.
Hazardous materials: Incandescent light bulbs contain lead and
compact florescent light bulbs contain trace amounts of mercury.
Even though both types of lights contain hazardous materials,
there are no effective disposal or recycling programs to prevent
the bulbs and their related toxic materials from ending up in
landfills. Several supporters of this bill believe that before
the state makes statutory and regulatory shift to fluorescent
lighting recycling programs need to be developed to make sure
these new bulbs do not contaminate landfills.
Fluorescent Bulbs are Universal Wastes: Regulations to protect
public health and the environment have been changing. Some
common items, such as fluorescent tubes, traditionally thrown
away, have now been determined to be hazardous wastes and cannot
be disposed in landfills. These common items can be classified
as universal waste (u-waste). U-Wastes, as defined by federal
and state law, are hazardous wastes that are more common and
pose a lower risk to people and the environment than other
hazardous wastes. For California, per DTSC regulations, as of
February 9, 2006, all "u-waste" items including those generated
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by households and small businesses are banned from disposal at a
solid waste landfill. Fluorescent lamps and tubes as well as,
metal halide lamps, and sodium vapor lamps are u-wastes. Other
u-wastes include small household batteries, computer and
television monitors, and electronic devices including computers,
printers, cell phones, telephones, radios, and microwave ovens.
With the universal waste rules now in effect for householders
and small quantity generators, the need to develop an
infrastructure to handle these wastes is paramount. Currently
the burden to handle these wastes is falling upon already
overtaxed local governments.
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR): EPR is a policy
approach that refers to shifting responsibility away from
general taxpayers to the manufacturers. There are many
different levels of responsibility that manufacturers can assume
for their products on the path to taking full responsibility for
their products. Any movement on the path to manufacturers
taking full responsibility is in keeping with EPR. This bill
presents a strong EPR approach.
What is the efficiency of light bulbs today: The most common
form of lighting in California today is incandescent lighting.
Almost 2% of all energy consumption in the state comes from
incandescent bulbs. An incandescent bulb works by sending an
electrical current through a filament. The current heats the
filament to an extremely high temperature and creates light.
Approximately 95% of the power consumed by an incandescent light
bulb is emitted as heat, rather than as visible light, meaning
that 95% of the electricity used when a light bulb is turned on
is wasted. Some forms of incandescent lighting such as halogen
lights increase efficiency somewhat so that only 91% of the
electricity used is lost to heat. Light output is measured in
lumens. A typical 60 watt incandescent light bulb will create
850 lumens, or close to 14 lumens per watt. A typical compact
florescent light bulb that is on the market today creates 950
lumens and uses only 15 watts of electricity for a rating of 63
lumens per watt - a 450% increase in efficiency. The CEC
already has efficiency standards for lighting. The newest CEC
standards, which go into effect on January 1, 2008, require that
a bulb that produces 850 lumens (a typical 60 watt bulb)
consumes no more than 57 watts. This is about a 5% efficiency
improvement from the 2007 usage. These standards are
periodically updated. This bill instructs the CEC to approve a
limit for the amount of electricity consumed by lighting in
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California. The limit would need to achieve a 50% reduction in
energy consumed for indoor residential lighting and a 25%
reduction in consumption for indoor commercial and outdoor
lighting. Given the fact that there are products on the market
today that improve the efficiency of the most common forms of
lighting in California by over 450%, these limits should be easy
to meet.
Qualified Support : Some stakeholders have indicated qualified
support for this bill. The concerns listed include the mandated
take-back requirement and the toxic reduction component.
Regarding the take-back requirement, concerns with
implementation challenges were conveyed. The toxic reduction
piece drew concerns about consistency with European Union
standards. On this point, consistency with AB 48 (Saldana)
currently in this Committee which proposes to establish a
program similar to that in the European Union to ban certain
hazardous materials from products was also mentioned. The
author may wish to continue to work on these issues to resolve
potential conflicts and improve implementation efficiencies.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Californians Against Waste (Sponsor)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
California Product Stewardship Council
California Public Interest Research Group
Environmental Defense
Friends of the Earth
Natural Resources Defense Council
North American Hazardous Materials Management Association
Redding Municipal Utilities
San Diego County
Sierra Club California
Sonoma County Waste Management Agency
Southern California Edison
The Utility Reform Network
One Individual
Opposition
California Chamber of Commerce
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Analysis Prepared by : Caroll Mortensen / E.S. & T.M. / (916)
319-3965