Buy American, except when it comes to CFLs

The Dept. of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy has waived several lighting products from the Buy American requirements that apply to manufactured goods used in projects funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

The document includes a waiver for screw-base and pin-base compact fluorescent lamps (with the exception of pin-based CFLs longer than 10 in). The waiver excludes plug-in CFLs longer than 10 in because these products are made in the U.S. The effect of the waiver is to allow all screw-base and all pin-base CFLs shorter than 10 inches made outside the U.S. (e.g. in China) to be used in EERE Recovery Act projects, including lighting retrofit projects under the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant program.

You can download a copy of the waiver from NEMA here:

http://www.nema.org/media/pr/upload/EERE_Buy_American_Categorical_Waivers.pdf