Builders warm to new lighting tech, but challenges remain

Until recently, the lighting scheme in a newly built house was something of an afterthought. Aside from installing recessed cans in the kitchen ceiling, vanity lighting above the bathroom sink, a pendant over the dining room table and plenty of wall outlets throughout the house, builders have long left the details of lighting their homes to buyers to figure out after they move in. The passage of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 triggered the first real shake-up around that notion, effectively phasing out common household incandescent lamps and providing a stricter energy-efficiency mandate for new light sources.