Halogen Desk Lamps, Fit For Purpose
There’s been a lot of publicity, some would say hype, surrounding halogen lamps over the past twelve months or so, especially since phasing out the traditional light bulb began. But, is halogen lighting all it’s cracked up to be? The truth is, it does have it’s place in domestic lighting, and although not ideal for every application, for desk lamps halogen is superb.
The first thing we must do is clear up a common misunderstanding – just as with traditional light bulbs, halogen bulbs are incandescent bulbs. With the growing tendency to call to traditional light bulbs ‘incandescent bulbs’, this simple fact is in danger of being lost. In very simple terms, both types of lamp work on the principle of running an electric current through a thin filament until it glows. In traditional bulbs, combustion is prevented because the glass of the bulb keeps oxygen away from the glowing filament.
In halogen lamps, the filament is housed within a glass envelope and surrounded by a mixture of inert gas and halogen. The result is that the filament burns brighter, hotter and for longer. The downside of this is an increased running temperature, which means that halogen lamps should no longer be the first choice for inset ceiling and wall lights. This is because they back into a small enclosed space, which makes them a potential fire hazard.
The heat output is obviously a major disadvantage in this type of application but there is another characteristic that could be seen as a drawback in some settings: halogen lights do not produce the same cosy, rosy glow of traditional light bulbs. Nevertheless, in some situations the cosiness is of secondary consideration; with a halogen desk lamp for instance the aim is to shed clear light on your paperwork, which is exactly what is does.
When it comes to desk lamp, the very different halogen light is ideal. This light bears little resemblance to the artificial light we have grown used to. It is bright, it is white and it goes exactly where you want it to.
Halogen light is bright and white, not only making colours appear brighter but also reducing eyestrain, which particularly explains why halogen lamps have become so popular as reading lights and desk lights.
You’ll need a shade though – the one thing you can’t do with halogen lamps is have them un-shaded; the light is too bright. The beauty is, however, that the light is very easy to direct so once you put on an appropriate shade (so something that points the light downwards for a desk lamp), the light goes exactly where you want it to.
The most regularly cited advantage of halogen lights is their long life. The fact is, if you turned on your halogen desk lamp today and left it on, day and night, it would run considerably longer than a standard light bulb before failing. And amazingly, it would do all of that on just 20% of the energy used by a standard bulb.
Halogen desk lamps, it would seem, are the ideal way to appreciate the advantages of this modern light source, without experiencing any of the disadvantages.
