Ikea has announced that it will no longer sell halogen and compact fluorescent bulbs worldwide from September 2015. LEDs use less energy than halogen and compact fluorescent lightbulbs and have a much longer lifespan.
While compact fluorescent bulbs are often called ‘energy-saving’, Ikea is removing those and halogen bulbs from its shelves beginning in September and switching to super efficient light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in its stores all over the world. As the Guardian reports, the move affects over 2.3 million bulbs sold by the Swedish furniture giant each year in the UK alone.
Steve Howard, Ikea’s chief sustainability officer, told the Guardian that the quality and cost of LEDs have reached a tipping point, making the time right for the switch.
“If it’s right for the customer, it’ll be right for Ikea. If you can produce a product that can last 25-30 times longer and save you 85 per cent of the energy and have fantastic light quality, then that’s the right thing for the customer.”
According to the Guardian article, the EU was expected to ban some types of halogen bulbs from sale as of September 2016 but postponed the phase-out until 2018, arguing that it wanted to give more time for the cost of LEDs to drop. Ikea claims it has been able to reduce the cost of the plastics and other components of the bulbs thanks to its scale of production.
Photo credit: Tony Webster, flickr/Creative Commons
