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IKEA Has Pulled the Plug. Incandescent lights are out.*

IKEA Has Pulled the Plug. Incandescent lights are out.*

As of January, 2011, all IKEA US stores stopped stocking and selling Incandescent light bulbs. Ahead of the upcoming legislation – The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 that will phase out all incandescent light bulbs by 2012-2014 (2). IKEA has now made these lights a thing of the past. As a result, IKEA is now the first major retailer to stop the sale of incandescent lights.


Did You Know?

Compact Fluorescent Bulbs - What You Should KnowCFLS (Compact Flourescent Bulbs) reduce the amount of mercury released into the environment. And CFLs contain very small amounts of mercury.

What is Mercury? Mercury is an essential part of CFLs; it allows the bulb to be an efficient light source. Mercury is found in many rocks including coal. When coal is burned at a utility power plant to produce electricity, mercury is released into the environment. Coal-burning power plants are the largest man-made source of mercury emissions to the air in the United States, accounting for about half of all domestic human-caused mercury emissions (source: 2005 National Emissions Inventory). Using energy-efficient CFLs reduces demand for power, which in turn reduces the amount of mercury released into the environment by coal-burning power plants.

CFLs Contain Very Small Amounts of Mercury. On average, CFLs contain abut four milligrams of mercury sealed within the glass tubing. By comparison, older thermometers contain about 500 milligrams of mercury – an amount equal to the mercury in over 100 CFLs. IKEA CFL’s only contain 2 milligrams of mercury far less than the industry average. Manufacturers of fluorescent lighting products are working to reduce the amount of mercury content in CFLs. -No mercury is released when the bulbs are intact (i.e., not broken) or in use, but CFLs release mercury vapor when broken.

Why use CFLs if they contain mercury? Small amounts of mercury can be released into the environment when CFLs break, or if they are improperly disposed of at the end of their useful lives. The total amount of mercury that could be released into the environment through breakage and improper disposal, however, is small compared to the amount of mercury that doesn't get released into the environment because Americans are choosing energy-efficient CFLs, reducing demand for electricity. Learn more from the Energy Star program about the benefits of using CFLs by visiting:

Mercury spills and cleanup
Refer to

•* * phase out includes all IKEA incandescents except for 2 styles of 25 watt bulbs.


IKEA values lighting solutions that are more efficient and have less negative impact on the environment. As of January 2011, IKEA became the first retailer to phase out all incandescent light bulbs*. As alternatives, IKEA is developing a range of more energy efficient light source solutions based on the following lighting options, CFL (compact fluorescent lighting), halogen and LED (light-emitting-diode).