Illuminating shift: Ikea to phase out sales of traditional bulbs, signaling huge changes ahead in light design

When Ikea announced this week that its 48 U.S. and Canadian stores will stop selling traditional incandescent light bulbs by the end of the year, the real story wasn't the bulbs. It was how a shift from the soft white glowing globes of decades past will affect the design of lamps, sconces and chandeliers of decades future.

First, the timeline: Ikea will begin phasing out incandescent bulbs starting Aug. 1, with a target completion date of Jan. 1. The company already has stopped selling incandescents in France and Australia, as other parts of the world move faster to energy-efficient alternatives.

In the U.S., the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 mandates that light bulbs will need to use 30 percent less energy than incandescents by 2014. Unless engineers can invent a more energy-efficient incandescent bulb at an attractive price — an unlikely scenario — it essentially will become obsolete. The new federal standards will roll out in stages, starting with 100-watt bulbs, which must comply by January, and ending with 40-watt bulbs, which must comply by January 2014.

How will the change affect light fixtures? As consumers shift to incandescent alternatives, designers will have to develop better solutions to the problems of fluorescents (institutional glow), halogens (excess heat) and LEDs (cost).

Though the marketplace has been flooded with compact fluorescent bulbs that can screw into standard light sockets, many consumers simply don't like the quality of light, often deemed more hospital than home. And though proponents note that compact fluorescent lights use 75 percent to 80 percent less energy and have a potential lifespan that's 10 times longer than incandescents, CFLs do contain small amounts of toxic mercury and cannot be thrown away in household trash.

Which brings consumers to halogen and LED.

This fall, Ikea stores will begin selling a so-called retrofit halogen bulb that can be used in standard light sockets, much like the CFL. Halogens have twice the lifespan of their incandescent counterparts, but they offer energy savings of only 20 percent. The forthcoming standards require 30 percent.

"A lot of the designs that are halogen in Europe are not sold in the U.S. because they can't pass UL," said David Feldman, co-founder of modern e-retailer Ylighting, citing Underwriters Laboratories, the safety testing organization whose certification is required by many retailers before they will carry a product.

Some lighting designers are betting on light-emitting diodes instead. LEDs use 80 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs and last up to 50 times longer.