High Efficiency Halogen Lamps Are A Better Energy Efficient Lighting Option For Recessed Downlights
High-Efficiency Halogen Lamps Are a Better Energy-Efficient Lighting Option for Recessed Downlights
For many homeowners, especially those with children, the kitchen is the most lived-in room in the house. It's a gathering place, a workspace, a study area, an entertainment venue and of course, a room in which to enjoy meals together. Thus, it's not uncommon for kitchen lights to be switched on for four or more hours per day. This presents a legitimate opportunity to save money and reduce air pollution and landfill waste by switching to energy-efficient lighting solutions.
As a source of both ambient and task light, recessed downlights ("cans") are widely used in American kitchens. These fixtures push light down and away to light an area and a work surface at the same time. To enable the homeowner to add ambience, they're often controlled by a dimmer switch.
For homeowners motivated to make a small investment to reduce their electricity use and/or carbon footprint, a simple light bulb retrofit in their existing kitchen fixtures is a smart and easy strategy. Simply remove the existing high wattage (commonly 65-90 watts) bulbs, and insert lower wattage eco-friendly lamps which yield equivalent light output (lumens). But since there are two types of lower cost energy-efficient lighting options from which to choose, which is preferable in this application?
High-Efficiency Halogen Lamps Beat Compact Fluorescent Lamps
We've looked at this question from many angles and have concluded that screw-in (self-ballasted) CFL reflector lamps, for many the obvious choice, are an inferior, energy-efficient lighting solution. Very few consumers are familiar with the new high-efficiency halogen lamps ("HEH") which have hit the market in the last few years. The best of these models already exceed the energy efficiency requirements for incandescent reflector lamps scheduled to take effect in July 2012.
Here, we cite nine reasons why we believe high-efficiency halogen lamps, controlled by a pre-set dimmer switch, offer overall superior, energy-efficient lighting value to CFLs starting with the most important factor for electric light sources, whether energy efficient or not: light characteristics.
Reason 1 - Great Light:
Reason 2 - Superior Illuminance:
Reason 3 - Effortless Dimming:
Reason 4 - Dimming = Longer Lamp Life:
Reason 5 - Instant On:
Reason 6 - Mercury-Free:
Reason 7 - Reliability:
Reason 8 - Lumen Maintenance:
The Rest of the Story - High-Efficiency Halogen Lamps Are Greener
Reason 9 - Better, REAL Energy-Efficient Lighting:
Notes for Previous Example
1. A 40 watt model was dimmed by 15% to reduce lumen output from 720 to 612.
2. Measured distance of each light source to the surface of the light meter instrument was 50 inches.
Illuminating the Perks of Energy-Efficient Lighting
Impressive consumer value is sometimes found where it's least expected. We're all for selectively installing energy-efficient lighting around the home and place of business because it leverages the fact that the cheapest and cleanest kilowatt of electricity is the one that's never produced in the first place. But if light bulb buyers only paid attention to the popular media or followed Energy Star prescriptions, they would only know to consider CFL reflectors as an affordable, energy-efficient lighting solution for their oft-used recessed downlights.
As we've argued here, the exciting new high-efficiency halogen lamps (spot and floodlights), which are generally priced on par with premium quality dimmable CFL reflectors, are superior energy-efficient lighting solutions for consumers who value great light characteristics, thrift, dimming performance and environmental sustainability for their lighting dollar.
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