IKEA was the first major retailer to stop selling incandescent bulbs – the ones that provide beautiful light but eat up electricity – in favor of those controversial compact fluorescent bulbs and LEDs.
That was 2010 and it seemed that so-called CFLs (the ones at right in the middle) were the future, much to the chagrin of my mom and millions of others who don’t like the way their nicely decorated houses look in what is generally an ugly, yellow-tinged light.
And who wants to look in the mirror in the morning underneath one of those fluorescent bulbs? Yuck.
Now, though, IKEA has pledged to get rid of the CFLs too in favor of only LED bulbs (above far right), which the company says last longer and are therefore more energy efficient. LED stands for light-emitting diodes.
The full conversion to LEDs will be complete in 2016, IKEA says.
“LED is a light revolution,” said IKEA’s chief sustainability officer, Steve Howard, in a statement released by the company.
“With household electricity bills continuing to rise rapidly and global energy consumption increasing, a small LED bulb can have a very big impact,” Howard said. “It uses much less energy than a traditional bulb and brings a lot of home furnishing potential to the home. Building on our belief that everyone should be able to afford to live more sustainably at home, we will make sure our LED prices are the lowest on the market.”
Already, IKEA offers a number of LED fixtures (including the JANSJO above for $9.99) and bulbs, including those that do not require new lamp bases – a relief to those of us who’ve been collecting IKEA lamps for years.
But there are some IKEA fixtures made specifically for LEDs, including the HAGGAS pendant at right, which sells for $59.99.
A few of the LED facts touted by IKEA:
- If one million people changed one bulb each into LED, this would in terms of CO2 emissions correspond to taking almost 6,700 cars off the road, or planting 17 million trees per year.
- The total annual, average cost saving (including purchase price and energy consumption cost) of switching one incandescent 40W bulb to a corresponding LED bulb is approximately $6.25.
- LED bulbs can last nearly 20 years. That’s about 20 times longer than a typical incandescent, 10 times longer than a typical halogen and twice as long as a typical CFL.
I’ve known LEDs typically for under cabinet lights and as Christmas lights. I don’t have a great impression of them, largely because the white holiday lights always seemed to be a bit blue. I assume the technology has advanced since I first saw those.
As I was working on this post, I became curious what the interior design world thinks of LEDs.
It’s clearly a mixed review.
Some designers remain devotees of incandescent bulbs. Maria Killam, a fantastic Vancouver-based designer, wrote last year about her addiction to incandescents.
“I am so stressed about the regular incandescent bulb being discontinued forever and being stuck with the compact fluorescent that a while ago I ran out and bought over $100 worth!” she wrote. “When you switch all your lighting back to regular incandescents you will notice a huge difference in the look and feel of your house at night!”
She doesn’t talk specifically about LEDs.
But Sherwin Williams said on its website that “because LED lighting is available in different color temperatures, it works well for interior design.”
Early LEDs bulbs, though, tended to be a bit dimmer and are often directional – although they are evolving with technology.
Washington D.C. designer Megan Blake suggests the dimmable 60W A-19 LED, shown at right.
“This rounded beauty comes in daylight white or warm white {finally}, and replaces energy gobbling incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs which consume only 8 watts,” Megan writes on her blog.
“They may be a bit on the pricy side of $28 each {yikes, I know!} but they should save some bucks on your energy bill and outlast the typical base bulb that seems to burn out monthly,” she writes. “The A-19 dimmable LED light bulb can be used with a standard household dimmer and is available through The LED Light online store.”
Obviously, IKEA isn’t the only seller moving to LEDs.
