Check out this map for which cities are buying the most LEDs & CFLs
Home Depot is the largest retailer of light bulbs in the world, so it’s got a birds eye view on who’s buying next-generation light bulbs — both LEDs and compact fluorescents — in which cities throughout the U.S. The company took sales data for over 2013 and census data and created this heat map-style data visualization showing off the top 10 and top 50 cities that bought energy-efficient light bulbs per capita.
The top 10 cities aren’t all that surprising: some coasts, big cities, and environmental-leaning and progressive places. The top 10 markets for energy-efficient bulb consumption per capita are:
- Atlanta, GA
- Boston, MA
- Hartford, CT
- Miami/Ft. Lauderdale/West Palm Beach, FL
- Orlando, FL
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Sacramento, CA
- San Francisco Bay
- Seattle, WA
- Washington D.C.
But more surprising is what cities were left off the per capita list:
- Chicago, IL
- Los Angeles, CA
- New York City, NY
In fact New York didn’t even make it in the Top 50.
But on a total energy-efficient light bulb consumption basis Chicago, and Los Angeles came out on top.
A few more surprising cities did surface on the Top 50 per capita list:
- Fayetteville, AR
- McAllen, TX
- Norfolk, VA
- Waco, TX
What’s driving these smaller cities? Rebates — 27 of the Top 50 markets offer a rebate for purchasing LEDs or CFLs. This year companies in the U.S. started phasing out the incandescent light bulb, and by next year inefficient bulbs will be harder to find.