The impacts of technical standards for incandescent lamp manufacture in Brazil

In 1996, a new standard for incandescent lamps was put into practice in Brazil, regulating the manufacture of lamp bulbs to be used by customers connected to the low-tension grid. In spite of having five different tension levels throughout the country, the new standard does not include specifications for incandescent lamps designed to operate at 127 V. Regions served by 127 V, which currently include about 20 million households (about half of the present population), now have to use a lamp designed to operate at the 120 V level according to the new standard. We demonstrate that this leads to significant economic and energy losses in households, the electrical sector and the society as a whole. We propose to return to the previous standard which included specifications for incandescent lamps operated at 127 V.