It's unusual to put a numeric standard in an act, and it's unusual to have a numeric standard with no consultation and analysis. From my perspective, I saw this an hour or so ago and I haven't been able to do an analysis of what 60 watts per lumen means in any detail. I can give you three reference points that between my colleague and me we were able to dig up to inform the committee in that lapse of time.
The Energy Star standard to replace a 60-watt bulb would not meet 60 lumens per watt. It would fail. So, to me, that makes 60 lumens per watt sound pretty significant. I can't tell you if it's a lot more stringent and how it applies to other lighting products. I just have that one example--comparing this to a 60-watt bulb replaced by the Energy Star bulb wouldn't beat it. I haven't been back to my office to talk to the technicians, so this is just based on the hour and a half we had between these two sessions.
I have two other reference points. One is Australia and the other is California. The popular press likes to speak of these jurisdictions' desire to ban the incandescent bulb, and that's in effect what their standards will do. However, they're not putting their standards forth written that way. They are choosing a technologies' performance standard. They're not looking at 60 watts per lumen. California is looking at 20 watts per lumen for 2010, and maybe 50 watts per lumen for 2017, but they haven't decided yet. They are going through a regulatory process and they are doing the type of consultation and analysis that I talked about earlier.
I can't tell you that 60 lumens per watt sounds good or bad. Off the top of it, it sounds quite stringent. It's similar in Australia, where they have the intent to ban the incandescent bulb. They plan to do it through a performance standard. They haven't landed on the number yet. So we can't use Australia as a reason that 60 lumens per watt makes sense.
I would feel much more comfortable if I had a chance to talk to our technicians about what that actually means, but the number causes me some reservation.