Last week, Swedish retailer IKEA announced they plan to to phase out all incandescent light bulbs in their U.S. stores starting August 1, 2010, as part of an environmental initiative that has a target date of incandescent bulb elimination by January 1, 2011. No worries though. IKEA also mentioned the following:
IKEA customers will have a good choice of other effective energy saving bulbs. While the compact fluorescent bulb (CFL) is the most popular bulb, IKEA also offers a range of LED lamps which are 70% more efficient than using incandescent bulbs. IKEA Halogen lamps which consume 30% less energy are also a great ‘white light’ alternative. And beginning fall, 2010, IKEA will offer a halogen bulb which can be used in a standard light socket. This is called a retro-fit halogen bulb. IKEA also offers solar powered lamps including their SUNNAN desk lamp and their ‘SOLIG’ range of outdoor lights.
On IKEA’s website, if you search for light bulbs and low-energy, you will be presented with several options. You may notice the description includes E26. Since it isn’t obvious what this represented, I did a quick Google search.
The designation Exx refers to the diameter in millimeters, even in the U.S., where the bulb glass is listed in eighths of an inch. (For example, E12 has a diameter of 12 mm.) There are four common sizes of screw-in sockets used for line-voltage lamps.
E26 is common for light sockets in the U.S. And, the “E” stands for Edison. That same Wikipedia entry noted:
The Edison screw fitting is a system of light bulb connectors, developed by Thomas Edison and licensed starting in 1909 under the Mazda trademark. Most have a right-hand threading, so that it goes in when turned clockwise and comes out when turned counterclockwise, like a hardware screw.
So it looks like Edison will live on even if his incandescent bulb is banned.
Circling back to IKEA’s product offerings, it is helpful to know that the light bulbs they sell use less energy, but have the same output.
For example:
The SPARSAM Low-energy light bulb ($8.99 for two) lasts 10 times longer than an incandescent bulb. What isn’t clear is the output of that 7W bulb.
According to this video, IKEA has a store display that shows energy and output.
###
Speak Your Mind