U.S. President Barack Obama and Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced on June 29 a $346 million investment from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) to expand and accelerate the development, deployment and use of energy-efficient technologies in all major types of commercial buildings as well as new and existing homes in the U.S. See the press release "Obama Administration Launches New Energy Efficiency Efforts".

Lighting is a major focus of this investment, with a further $50 million investment in solid-state lighting programs was announced, along with a new set of rules covering the efficiency of fluorescent and incandescent lamps.

The announcement includes major changes to energy conservation standards for numerous household and commercial lamps and lighting equipment. Seven percent of all energy consumed in the U.S. is for lighting.

In February 2009, President Obama tasked the Department of Energy with quickening the pace of energy conservation standards for appliances, while continuing to meet legal and statutory deadlines. The announcement, which takes effect in 2012, focuses on General Service Fluorescent Lamps (GSFL), which are commonly found in residential and commercial buildings, and Incandescent Reflector Lamps (IRL), which are commonly used in recessed and track lighting. These fluorescent and incandescent lamps represent approximately 38 and 7 percent of total lighting energy use respectively.

The final rule, as issued by the Secretary of Energy on June 26, 2009, can be viewed and downloaded from the Office Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's Web site.

The objective of the solid state lighting activities is to advance state-of-the-art solid-state lighting (SSL) technology and to move those advancements more rapidly to market through a coordinated development of advanced manufacturing techniques. This project will both aid in the development and reduce the first cost of high performance lighting products. Continuing advances can accelerate progress towards creating a U.S.-led market for high efficiency light sources that save more energy, reduce costs, and have less environmental impact than other conventional light sources.