Q: I often have customers tell me they don’t want halogen lights because they are too hot. Is there really more heat in halogen than regular A-lamps, or does it just seem hotter because of the smaller envelope?
A: Yes, halogen lamps are hotter than standard A-lamps. You can actually cook food with halogen lamps. Think of how much faster those Easy-Bake ovens would have been if they used a halogen lamp. You’d be churning out mini-cakes in 15 minutes flat. Of course, all the plastic parts may have melted as well.
The only halogen lamps I recommend are the double-envelope halogens for instances where a standard A-lamp hums when dimmed (and the space inside the fixture is too small to hold a CFL). The double-envelope lamps are easier to handle because you can touch the outer glass envelope. These will still be hotter than regular lamps.
Both halogen options produce more heat than light. If you are looking to give your customers more light, then have them try out a dimmable CFL. The better CFLs have a color temperature which is great. The pendants pictured here use dimmable CFLs. You get three to four times more illumination than from an A-lamp with a comparable wattage, and it dims with a standard dimmer. Plus, they put out much, much less heat. Yes, mercury is still a concern, but if they are recycled, the mercury can be recovered and reused.
Q: I have been watching the residential LED market grow in under-cabinet lighting. Prices still seem somewhat prohibitive, so I continue using T2 lamps for this application. Where do you see the T2 lamp market going? Also, do you see any downside to T2 lamps, aside from lack of dimmability, and the brittleness of the lamps?
A: You’re right that under-cabinet LEDs are costly, but I believe that in 12 to 18 months we will be seeing LED versions that are comparable in price to their fluorescent counterparts with a very good CRI, some of which will also be dimmable. The manufacturers just need to amortize the cost of research and development, as well as the expense of getting UL, ETL or CSA listings.
I suspect that these improved and lower-cost LEDs will probably push T2 lamps out of the residential market. As you mention, they are brittle and they are not dimmable. There are commercial applications such as in airplanes where linear T2 lamps will live on until an LED alternative is incorporated into newer aircraft models. Of course, the other downside is the mercury factor, which is still a concern to many people about all fluorescent lamps. We’ll see if the new mercury-free Vu1 lamps (Electron Stimulated Luminescence Lighting Technology) will offer a T2 version, but I’m sure that’s not at the top of their list.
