CFL Torchieres: Nearly Ready for Prime Time

The halogen torchiere light fixtures that have been sweeping the lighting world over the past few years are bad news. Not only do they have about the lowest usable-light efficacy (lumens per watt) of any common lighting source—their widespread use in recent years has erased all of the energy savings achieved to date through the use of compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs)—but they are significant fire hazards that are responsible for hundreds of fires and more than a dozen deaths (see EBN Vol. 6, No. 1). Well, finally there are some alternatives.

Emess Lighting, Inc. of Ellwood City, Pennsylvania and the Energy Federation, Inc. (EFI) of Natick, Massachusetts have recently introduced torchiere-style standing light fixtures with compact fluorescent rather than halogen lamps. We obtained some of the first products to reach the market and have been testing them in the EBN office. While we are extremely pleased to finally see CFL torchieres on the market, we ran into a few problems or concerns with both products.