IKEA Singapore aims to pull the plug on all incandescent lights by 2012

Posted on April 1, 2011 by derek

Press Release:

Leading home specialist IKEA is dedicated to creating a better everyday life for the many people. Not only does  IKEA  offer  affordable and quality home furnishing solutions,  it is also committed to integrating sustainability into its business practices and product range. In its continuous bid to help Singapore move towards a greener and more sustainable environment, IKEA Singapore will begin to phase out all incandescent light bulbs in its stores and targets to completely eliminate them by 2012.

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IKEA’s Responsibility Beyond Home Furnishing

Since the beginning, the goals of sustainability and environmental design have been integral to the IKEA business strategy and IKEA is constantly doing what it can to help create a world where it can take better care of the environment, the earth’s resources, and each other. This improvement is  a never-ending job at IKEA.

One of IKEA’s global efforts includes the collaboration with  World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to decrease carbon footprint by promoting responsible and  sustainable use of resources. The partnership includes projects on forestry, climate and cotton.

In Singapore, IKEA has proactively embarked on many green initiatives like  Say  “No” to Plastic Bags, Earth Hour,  the solar-energy SUNNAN  lamp  campaign and providing green parking lots for bicycles and charging stations  for electric motorcycles. IKEA also offers many environmentally friendly products such as the RATIONELL waste system and IKEA 365+  foodsavers, to encourage Singaporeans to  live a more  sustainable life at home.

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Small Steps with Lighting

Lighting is a basic necessity and it commonly accounts for almost 25 percent of electricity consumption in a typical household. In  line with the global IKEA  initiative, IKEA Singapore decides to take ownership of the environment and make a stand by pledging to pull the plug on all incandescent lights by 2012.  IKEA offers lighting solutions that  will  enable Singaporeans to live a more sustainable live at home.  By encouraging Singaporeans to adopt energy-saving lighting solutions,  Singaporeans can take pride in creating a home that contributes to a healthier planet, and helps them save money.

With over 7 million visitors from September 2009 to August 2010, eliminating incandescent lighting is the simplest way for IKEA Singapore to lead the charge for IKEA customers (and Singaporeans) to enact small changes at home and reduce  environmental footprint in Singapore. It’s a little step with a big impact on the environment.

Over 112,000  low-energy light bulbs have been purchased at  IKEA Singapore from September 2009 to August 2010. By replacing their incandescent light bulbs, IKEA customers have saved energy up to 5.15 GW, enough to power up about 5,730 households in Singapore.  Make An Easy Switch To Low-Energy Lightings

As a leading  home furnishing  retailer in Singapore, IKEA hopes to support  Singaporeans  in making informed  choices on energy-efficient lightings. Thereby helping to  speed up the  market transition to energy-saving lights.

Did You Know?

IKEA offers lighting solutions that are more efficient and have less negative impact on the environment. IKEA range of energy-saving light bulbs is based on three main energy-saving techniques: CFL (compact fluorescent lighting), halogen and LED (light-emitting-diode).

• CFL bulbs are a great alternative to traditional incandescent light bulbs. They last up to ten times longer (10,000 hours versus 1,000 hours) and  use 80% less energy than a  conventional incandescent light bulb. One 20-watt light bulb provides as much light as a 100-watt incandescent light bulb, without getting anywhere near as hot.
• Halogen  light  bulbs use 30% less energy and last 2-4 times longer than a  conventional incandescent light bulb.
• LED lights use 70% less energy and burn at least 20 times longer than a conventional incandescent light bulb.
• A small effort in changing a light bulb can translate to a significant amount of energy and monetary savings and helps contribute towards a more sustainable Singapore.
• If you replace a 25-watt incandescent light bulb with a 7-watt  energy-saving  CFL bulb, you will save 0.018kw of energy and 4g of carbon emissions per hour.
• IKEA Singapore attracted over 7 million visitors in its stores from September 2009 to August 2010.  If every IKEA visitor purchases and  switches to an energy-saving CFL bulb, it will help Singapore reduce her energy consumption by  276 GW in a year* and  CO2  emissions by  138 million kg. Together they will also save up to $66.5 million in electricity bills.
• If every of the 1,145,900 Singaporean household replaces one 25-watt incandescent light bulb with a 7-watt energy-saving CFL bulb, Singapore would reduce her energy consumption by 45.17 GW, enough energy to power up 50,190 households  for  a year*. It would  also  greatly reduce  carbon footprint in Singapore, with about 22.58 million kg reduction in CO2 emissions. And together, they can save up to $10.89 million in electricity bills. (An average Singaporean household living in a five room flat consumes approximately  450 kWh and spends $108.45 on electricity bills from August 2010 to January 2011. The cost of electricity in Singapore is $0.241 per kWh. *Assumption: the light is on for 6 hours a day for 365 days)
• Energy-saving light bulbs may cost more to purchase initially, but they are more affordable in the long run. An IKEA SPARSAM  7-watt energy-saving light  bulb costs $3.75 more than an incandescent light bulb giving off a similar level of brightness. However, due to their lower energy use, one can save about $9.80 per year in the total average cost of purchasing the light bulbs and electricity.