J.D. Ned Nisson Leaving EDU

Halogen torchieres, those highly popular, low-cost, dimmable, standing light fixtures that provide brilliant uplighting, have turned out to be one of the worst lighting products available. First introduced in the 1980s but only gaining widespread use in the past few years, these 300- to 600-watt lights have two major flaws: first, they are highly inefficient—worse even than conventional incandescent lights—and second, they start fires.

E Source, the Boulder, Colorado-based energy information service, estimates that halogen torchieres sold in the last two or three years are now using more energy in the U.S. than the combined surveys of all the compact fluorescent lights sold in the past ten years! Some 18 million torchieres were sold in 1996, bringing the total number in use in the U.S. to about 40 million. Assuming typical usage patterns, these lights consume about 16 billion kWh per year, according to Christopher Granda of Ecos Consulting, in Arlington, Massachusetts, or roughly the annual output of two 1,000-MW power plants. They represent 20 to 40 percent of all sales at many lighting retail stores, according to Granda.
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