IKEA to Phase Out Incandescent Bulbs
Starting this August, IKEA will no longer sell incandescent light bulbs in its North American stores. Photo: Flickr/theunquietlibrarian
IKEA announced that starting in August it will begin phasing out incandescent light bulb offerings at its North American stores with the hopes that it will only sell energy-efficient bulbs by January 2011.
This is a full year ahead of the federally mandated phase out, and would make IKEA the first U.S. retailer to stop selling incandescent bulbs. IKEA was already the first U.S. retailer to offer free in-store recycling of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), which are the most common form of energy-efficient lighting but pose disposal issues because they contain mercury.
IKEA will offer a range of bulbs in its upcoming product line that use less energy, including light emitting diode (LED) and halogen lamps. Many of these are compatible in standard light sockets, and the company also offers solar powered lamps to save even more energy.
Two years ago, IKEA announced that it would no longer supply disposable bags to customers, relying solely on reusable carriers. For several years before the bag ban, stores were only offering them at a cost of 5 cents per bag.
“IKEA is committed to integrating sustainability into all IKEA strategies and practices in the entire product life cycle,” said Mike Ward, U.S. IKEA President. “Eliminating incandescents is a simple way to lead the charge for IKEA customers to use energy saving light bulbs, thus reducing energy consumption and reducing the amount of greenhouses gases. It’s a little step with a big impact on our planet.”
For those looking to make the switch to CFLs or other energy-efficient lighting, it’s important to note that these bulbs can be up to three times more expensive than incandescent bulbs. These costs are typically balanced by lower energy bills and the lifespan of the bulbs.
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As of June 17th 2011 we have upgraded our comment system to use Facebook comments. The below comments are closed and are listed for historical purposes.
Bill
posted on June 23rd, 2010 at 11:27 am
This is just GREAT!! Now I am being forced into buying those damned CFL bulbs. Much more expensive to buy and some of my light fixtures WILL NOT accept them. Why can’t they just leave things alone for god sake. They say the increased cost is balanced out by lower energy bills and longer bulb life. Baloney!! The amount of current they save is inconsequential, plus they do not give off the same light spectrum nor do they produce the nice “glow” of incandescents. It must be that the bulb manufactureres must make a higher profit on CFL’s (since you can get incandescents for as little as $.29 anymore, at the dollar store) so they got the ear of the govt. and had this BS passed. Guess I’ll have to stock up NOW while I can still get incandescents and HOPE that someone on the Internet will continue to sell them, even if it’s Black Market.
Pat
posted on June 24th, 2010 at 3:21 am
I do not like or want these new bulbs. A friend of mine changed every bulb in his house & evaluated for one month & then went back to the incandescent bulbs for a month no difference in his utility bill.
Pat
posted on June 24th, 2010 at 3:24 am
Bill you are so right another freedom taken away by our gov’t.
Joseph
posted on June 24th, 2010 at 11:03 am
Bill & Pat, it depends on how you two used lightbulbs. Apparently, you two probably have not purchased the daylight type of CFL bulbs. Those daylight CFL ones do light up good! They will save you money in time. It basically depends on how much you running the lightbulbs. Trust me on this. Look for the “daylight” CFL bulbs whenever you can. You’ll notice a wonderful difference!
Bill
posted on June 28th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
Joseph, yes I have had Daylight bulbs and they are NOT the same light as incandescents. And as far as saving me money in time, what a few cents over a period of a few years?? Definitely NOT worth the (minimum) 2.00 to 4.00 per bulb as opposed to like I said .29 cents of an incandescent, not to mention the added expense of having to replace or modify several of my light fixtures because they WILL NOT accept CFL’s of any type. As Pat posted, the savings , if any, are not even noticeable. And as I said, it all comes down to the major drop in price of incandescent bulbs, meaning the manufacturers no longer make as much per bulb. So their answer is get the governments ear and phase out the cheap bulbs and force people into using the more expensive, higher profit ones. As a side note, the “daylight” CFL’s are even MORE expensive than the other ones. I’m not looking for “long term” savings, I’m looking for doing things as absolutely cheaply as possible meaning minimal INITIAL cash outlay. On the bright side, the internet is a wonderful place and since it seems that most of the incandescents are coming from either China or Hungary anyway, even if I have to pay shipping, I’ll still get them somehow.
dimitri
posted on July 14th, 2010 at 7:05 am
Isn’t the bigger issue here the fact that these light bulbs contain mercury? I would love to save energy, but not at the risk of having mercury in my house or my landfill.
Cheri
posted on August 2nd, 2010 at 9:26 pm
My experience with the CFL light bulbs has been a pain. They say they will last longer but yet I have had 3 or 4 burn out in the past 6 months or so. Then what am I to do with the darn things… so they sit around while I try to decide were and how to dispose of them and I hope they won’t break and spread mercury everywhere. I have also not seen any change in my electricity usage and they do not fit in all the lamps. I agree this is probably another example of the government getting involved in something they shouldn’t. I too am going to switch back to the less expensive old fashion ones.
Julie
posted on March 18th, 2011 at 6:40 pm
I agree with Cheri – How can our government be so stupid as to come up with a great energy saving bulb and FORGET to make a plan on how we dispose of them! I live in West Virginia and the Earth911 website shows ONE “1″ (really ONE!) site for disposal – that is NUTS! In our county alone it takes 4 hours just to get from one end to the other. Be real – people with throw these in the garbage with all the other stuff and they will get in the water and in time we will wonder why everyone is so sick. I personally almost died from mercury poisoning when I went to one of the largest ‘baby’ hospitals in Atlanta, GA to deliver. I am an RH- (negative) mother and they gave me the Rhogam shot with the mercury preservative (Thimerosol). It took them 2 years to discover why I was almost dead and unfortunately, it crosses the blood/brain barrier with breast feeding and my son was also poisoned. People mercury poison is deadly. My life was saved, but we lost everything (house, savings, etc.) on paying thousands and thousands of medical bills for treatment. And that was in 2002 when I was poisoned and started my treatment in Nov 2004 and I still have to have a specialist, because mercury is so hard to detox that they estimated 10 years before I was in the clear. I WILL NEVER BRING A CFL BULB INTO MY HOUSE! I WILL GET A BEE HIVE AND MAKE MY OWN CANDLES BEFORE I BRING A CFL BULB INTO MY HOUSE! For the folks that are promoting the CFL bulb, I hope you make enough money so you can pay for all your medical bills. My dad has these bulbs in his house and they buzz – it is so anoying – just like the old tube floresent bulbs – why oh why would someone want this in their house? There must be some better solution – I can’t believe we actually sell mercury. We don’t need weapons in our country, the bad guys could just carry around a CFL!