Benefits of Fluorescent Desk Lamps

Coming in all shapes and sizes fluorescent lamps are making their way from overhead office lighting onto desks everywhere. As the technology for these desk lamps progresses, you have the benefit of choosing between fluorescent lights with different strengths and light qualities. Fluorescent bulbs create light when the gas they contain is excited by electricity and touches the coating on the inside of the bulb.

Reasons for Fluorescent Desk Lamps

These are lots of great environmental and economic reasons to choose a fluorescent desk lamp:

• Lots of Shapes and Sizes - Because fluorescent lighting is not limited by bulb shape like halogen or standard bulbs, you can have almost any bulb shape imaginable. This is especially good if you need a magnifier to read, because you can have a bulb that fits around a magnifying glass on your desk lamp.
  
  
• Cover a Large Area - This type of light naturally diffuses, giving you desk lamps with nice even light coverage.
  
  
• Energy Efficient - It takes only 20-21 watts of electricity to light a fluorescent bulb as compared to 75 watts from a standard bulb to get the same amount of light.
  
  
• Less Waste - Fluorescent bulbs last 6 to 11 times longer than standard bulbs. That means fewer bulbs to recycle.
  
  
• Light Quality - Fluorescent lights are great for desk lamps because they have a high light output, which reduces contrast on and around your desk. They also don't flicker and can come in cool, soft, and daylight selections.
  
  
• Cooler Temperature - A fluorescent desk lamp only outputs 30% of its energy in heat, which makes it much cooler than a standard or halogen bulb.
  
  

Reasons Against Fluorescent Desk Lamps

Fluorescent lighting may not be for everyone. Below are a few reasons you might want to look at standard desk lamps instead of fluorescent:

• Fragile - You do have to be careful with fluorescent lights as they break easily and contain a small amount of mercury, which can be very difficult to clean up.
  
  
• Mercury - On the other side of the environmental coin, the mercury that fluorescents contain can seep into ground water if not disposed of properly. Choose a standard desk lamp if you do not want to bother recycling your light bulbs.
  
  
• Expensive - Although fluorescent lights last longer, the bulbs themselves can be more expensive than standard bulbs. They run about the same price as most halogen bulbs, however.
  
  
• Still Output Heat - Even though they put out less heat than standard bulbs, fluorescents still put out heat, which means these desk lamps are not safe near drapes or other flammables.
  
  
• Not Very Attractive - Make sure you have attractive lampshades that will cover your bulbs, as fluorescents are not known for their beauty
  
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In most cases, people who use fluorescent lamps find that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. You will be pleasantly surprised if you decide to include one of these unique desk lamps in your office.