Halogen or tungsten-halogen lighting has improved somewhat over the past few years and remains the lighting option of choice where high light quality or precise light focusing is required. A halogen lamp is really a specialized type of incandescent lamp, often featuring a parabolic aluminized reflector (par) to improve light focus. Halogen lamps are slightly more energy efficient than standard incandescent lamps, but not as energy efficient as fluorescent lamps. In situations where light is needed on a precise area, halogen lights may be a more effective choice than fluorescent lights due to this tight focusing feature.
Halogen torchiere floor lamps, which have become quite popular in recent years, are actually quite inefficient, since they consume 300-600 watts of electricity yet direct the light to the ceiling.
Halogen torchieres are an example of a low-price technology that proves to be costly over the long term. For example, a 300-watt torchiere used just two hours per day will consume 219 kwh per year at an average cost of $18 per year. Many discount stores sell halogen floor lamps for about $15, so this floor lamp can easily cost more to operate each year than it cost to purchase in the first place! put another way, halogen torchieres use so much power that using one can cancel the savings you would gain by replacing six 75-watt incandescent light bulbs with 18-watt compact fluorescent lamps.
