Low Mercury Lamps - ID Credit

"The plan must require that at least 90% of purchased lamps comply with the target (as measured by the number of lamps)."

Hi Sheela - Just a quick note on your original question. Bill's response is accurate but I'm not sure it leads to the right conclusion. The 'target' under discussion is the overall picogram/lumen-hour average for all the bulbs - it is not a per-bulb limit on mercury content. You must indeed include 90% of your bulbs in this calculation, but in many instances a large number of bulbs which are conventional mercury content are offset by a similar number of bulbs which are low-mercury. For example, a building with only 2 bulbs can be compliant by having both bulbs under 90 pg/l-h or by having one bulb at 100 pg/l-h and the other bulb at 79 pg/l-h (which averages to less than 90). In the latter example, you are analyzing 100% of your bulbs, but obviously half your bulbs are not low-mercury. Hope that helps a bit. Dan

Sheela, to answer your second question: no, this credit does not only apply to fluorescent lamps. While it is true that LED and incandescent lamps have no mercury, most HID (High Intensity Discharge) lamps contain a high level of mercury. In my experience, most HIDs in use do not have less than 90 pg Hg/lumen-hr.