Ikea turns out the lights on incandescent bulbs

Ikea's move to do away with incandescents comes in advance of federally mandated ban that will phase out the light bulbs starting in 2012.

You will no longer be able to buy incandescent light bulbs from Ikea. The company has announced it will no longer stock or sell the bulbs as of Tuesday of this week.

“As the largest home furnishings store, we are constantly looking at ways to help support our customers with every day environmentally responsible solutions that will improve their lives.” said Mike ward, president of Ikea’s U.S. operations, in a statement. “Eliminating incandescents is just one simple way for Ikea customers to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gases.”

Ikea had announced in late spring that it would begin phasing out incandescent light bulbs beginning in August of 2010 in order to focus on selling more energy efficient lighting options, including compact fluorescent light bulbs as well as halogen and LED lamps. In a press release, Ikea noted that LED lighting is 70 percent more energy efficient that incandescent sources, halogen lamps use about 30 percent less energy, and compact fluorescent light bulbs use around 80 percent less energy.

Even if with continued support of retail giants, incandescent light bulbs’ days are numbered. The federal government has mandated doing away with all incandescent lighting by 2014.  The Energy Independence and Security Act, issued in 2007, will ban the sale of 100-watt incandescent bulbs starting next year. In 2014,  60- and 40-watt bulbs must disappear from shelves by 2014.