IKEA to phase out traditional incandescent light bulbs, and that's just the beginning

Yep, Ikea comes from Sweden and EU bans incandescent light bulbs...

It is hard to find bulbs to old lights in here…

 

And what are we supposed to do for locations where CFL or LED lights don't work/last? e.g. Freezer, oven, fridge, dryer, etc???

 

There is big complains in Finland about this ban. Many people here use electricity to heat their houses and when heat is not coming from cheap light bulbs, you have buy bigger radiators.

And like me, I am using only wind & water electricity, so there is no point to make new light bulbs and say that this is more eco friendly.

 

I see it from the other side, when we went from CRT monitors to LCD monitors, the A/C was way less needed. We did not buy them to save energy, but they do. (In theory, we heat more in the winter due to less waste heat, but that is not much of an issue in MS)

 

Appliance bulbs are exempt from the US and EU legislation.

 

Eventually, of course, other forms of appliance bulbs will be designed. For now it makes sense to focus on the major applications, but the niche markets will follow in due time.

I used to work in a data center that was cooling-only. All of the heat came from the big mainframe computers, except for emergency heaters. As the mainframes became more efficient, we had to install a heating system.

Of course as Tony points out, this is not a bad thing. Overall efficiencies can improve even if you have to add new consumption in some areas.

Tom

 

What, not even enhanced (krypton, halogen, IR reflective) incandescents? Dang.

 

The US ban starts to be phased in in 2012. And it's not actually a ban, its an energy efficiency standard. There are already new halogens designed to beat the initial standard, but, basically, once fully-phased-in, it's likely that no incandescent bulbs will meet the standard (70% more efficient than current incandescent bulbs). There are a zillion loopholes. Here's a list I found, below. Really, all they target is the plain-vanilla incandescent:

1. (I) Appliance lamp (e.g. refrigerator or oven light)
2. (II) Black light lamp.
3. (III) Bug lamp.
4. (IV) Colored lamp.
5. (V) Infrared lamp.
6. (VI) Left-hand thread lamp.
7. (VII) Marine lamp.
8. (VIII) Marine signal service lamp.
9. (IX) Mine service lamp.
10. (X) Plant light lamp.
11. (XI) Reflector lamp.
12. (XII) Rough service lamp.
13. (XIII) Shatter-resistant lamp (including a shatter-proof lamp and a shatter-protected lamp).
14. (XIV) Sign service lamp.
15. (XV) Silver bowl lamp.
16. (XVI) Showcase lamp.
17. (XVII) 3-way incandescent lamp.
18. (XVIII) Traffic signal lamp.
19. (XIX) Vibration service lamp.
20. (XX) Globe shaped “G” lamp (as defined in ANSI C78.20-2003 and C79.1-2002 with a diameter of 5 inches or more.
21. (XXI) T shape lamp (as defined in ANSI C78.20-2003 and C79.1-2002) and that uses not more than 40 watts or has a length of more than 10 inches.
22. (XXII) A B, BA, CA, F, G16-1/2, G-25, G30, S, or M-14 lamp (as defined in ANSI C79.1-2002 and ANSI C78.20-2003) of 40 watts or less.
23. (XXIII) Candelabra incandescent and other lights not having a medium Edison screw base.

The law has a weird but interesting feature: If people switch en mass to the exempted bulbs, they lose their exemption. So if enough people say, screw it, I'll just light the house with fridge bulbs, then appliance bulbs will fall under the ban.

 

Light bulbs are a horrible way to heat your house.

Not only that, but exactly how many watts of incandescents are you using to significantly alter the temperature of your home? Let's say you have 2000W of incandescents on - that's 20 100W light bulbs, or enough to fully light your entire house at once. Do the Fins really turn on all the lights in their house at once to keep it warm?

Either way, that's equivalent to a couple $15 electric space heaters. A few bucks more if you get one with a nice thermostat in it. Those are going to much more effectively heat the area you are in.

All of that ignores the fact that electric resistance heating is the worst way to heat your house - you should be using a heat-pump anyway (ground-source if it gets really cold where you are) that will heat your house for less than 1/3rd the amount of energy.

 

Of course we have normal heaters also, but when building is made, heaters are measured to some max level. And also, if your heat is coming only one source, that’s not very pleasant.

And if you apply extra heaters, that’s not really good looking at your home. Scandinavian design you know..

This is not problem when you building new building, but with old one’s is it.

We have lot of heat pumps, usually from air, and they are very popular in electric heating houses.
One heat pump (air) just usually is not enough in winter.

 

With respect to appliance bulbs, manufacturers are moving to LED's. I just bought a Samsung fridge, and it is lit by LED bulbs. Same thing for the range hood.

 

I can see those applications using LED bulbs. I'm more concerned about extremes: Freezer section/oven.

How well do LEDs work in cold temps?

 

LEDs work great at cold temperatures. But the oven heat will kill them.

 

So, LEDs are an option to incandescent bulbs in a freezer (is frost a concern?). But are there any viable alternatives for an oven?

 

Acetylene, carbon arc, plasma discharge.



Tom

 

For the amount of time that an oven light is on (what - a minute or two a day?), I can't imagine worrying about the extra energy it uses - especially for electric ovens.

 

Uh... make them work? Why won't LED work in the places you suggest? (I'll admit up-front that I have already made LEDs work in all these places, so be warned...) Do you particularly think that the fridge and freezer are good places for incandescent heaters? Those were the first ones I replaced with LED.

 

High heat will kill LEDs in short order. Cold places aren't a problem.