1/4/2011
Cincinnati.com
by Mike Boyer
WEST CHESTER TWP. - New U.S. energy-efficiency standards started to take hold Tuesday, when home furnishings store Ikea announced it is stopping the sale of traditional, incandescent light bulbs.
The retailer, which operates a local store in West Chester Township, said it's the first major retailer to stop selling the traditional bulbs, which trace their roots to Thomas Edison in the 1870s.
New standards, required by the Energy Independence and Security Act and signed into law in 2007 by former President George W. Bush, eventually will make it more costly and complex to buy light bulbs for the home or office.
The new rules don't start taking effect nationally until next year, but California began phasing out the sale of older, less efficient 100-watt bulbs on Jan. 1, and new federal labeling rules take effect this year. Ikea announced plans last spring to begin phasing out incandescent bulbs in favor of more energy-efficient ones.
"Eliminating incandescents is just one simple way for Ikea customers to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gases," Mike Ward, Ikea's U.S. president, said in a statement.
Unlike some foreign countries, the U.S. isn't banning the sale of incandescents, said Terry McGowan, director of engineering for the American Lighting Association, a Dallas-based trade group.
But the new rules do require incandescents to be more energy efficient. For example, starting next January, 100-watt incandescent bulbs can use no more than 72 watts of power to produce the same amount of light or brightness.
To achieve the new energy-efficiency standards in incandescent bulbs, light bulb manufacturers like General Electric Co. have developed new technology that insulates a bulb's wire filament in a tiny coated quartz capsule to increase its efficiency. It's the same idea as adding insulation in walls to increase the energy efficiency of a home.
GE closed its last plant making ordinary incandescent bulbs in Winchester, Va., in September, laying off 200 workers.
"What it means is that people who are used to paying 60 cents for a 100-watt bulb will now be paying in the range of $2 to $3," McGowan said.
Consumers might opt to switch to new technology such as compact fluorescents (CFL) or light-emitting diode lamps. A typical fluorescent bulb uses about 75 percent less electricity than an old-style incandescent bulb to produce the same amount of light.
Duke Energy, which has been encouraging customers to become more energy-efficient, says it has distributed more than 370,000 CFL bulbs in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, enough to light nearly 2,000 homes.
As part of the change, new labeling rules will emphasize bulb lumens, or light output, rather than their wattage, or power output.
"It's going to be a challenge because consumers are going to have to be educated in a short period of time," said Larry Lauck, spokesman for the American Lighting Association.
His organization is working with other light industry organizations on a consumer education effort.
