College Installs Non-Halogen Lamps in Yard

Dorm Crew will be installing 620 fluorescent floor lamps in first-year suites over the next two weeks, in hopes of preventing fires caused by halogen lamps.

If successful, Harvard hopes to extend the plan to the Houses over the next few years.

"A lot of the students were buying halogen lamps, which can cause fires," said Merle Bicknell, manager of the Harvard Yard Branch of Physical Resources and Planning. "These [that are being installed] are safer lamps."

According to Bicknell, one lamp will be installed per suite. Yard Operations is hiring dorm crew students to assemble and install the lamps, which arrived on campus Monday.

The Freshman Dean's Office banned the use of halogen lamps in first-year dorms in September 1997 following a fire in Canaday Hall.

The incident was the only fire traced to halogen use at Harvard in recent history, according to Michael N. Lichten, the director of Physical Resources and Planning, who made the decision to purchase the alternative lamps.

But there have been many more halogen fires on a nation-wide level, Lichten said.

"Halogen lamps can get up to 900 degrees," he said. A stray curtain or a tumble to the floor is enough to start a blaze.

But "with the fluorescent you can put your hand on it. They're much safer, we've measured it as matching the light output of the halogen, and they use less than a third of the energy," he said.

The torchiere-style lamps are free-standing floor models with three compact fluorescent tubes and a reflector on the bulb. The lamps can be set to three levels of brightness.

The decision to install the lamps in all thefirst-year suites was based on the successful useof 65 lamps of a similar model installed in dormslast spring.

Both models are based on a prototype designedby a recent graduate who studied the danger ofhalogen lamps while at Harvard. The lamps aremanufactured by Bradley E. Steele '74, of EnergyFederation Inc., located in Natick.

First-year students said they were enthusiasticabout the lamps.

"It's a good idea," said Katherine A.Shackelford '02, a resident of Wigglesworth Hall."The light we have in our common room now, on ourceiling, is really bright, so we usually keep itoff."

Lichten refused to disclose the cost of thelamps. But he did say that they "are moreexpensive than halogen lamps," which sell foraround $20 each. He said he believes the money isworth it in light of the advantages.

"This way, no one will need to buy a halogenlamp," he said

The decision to install the lamps in all thefirst-year suites was based on the successful useof 65 lamps of a similar model installed in dormslast spring.

Both models are based on a prototype designedby a recent graduate who studied the danger ofhalogen lamps while at Harvard. The lamps aremanufactured by Bradley E. Steele '74, of EnergyFederation Inc., located in Natick.

First-year students said they were enthusiasticabout the lamps.

"It's a good idea," said Katherine A.Shackelford '02, a resident of Wigglesworth Hall."The light we have in our common room now, on ourceiling, is really bright, so we usually keep itoff."

Lichten refused to disclose the cost of thelamps. But he did say that they "are moreexpensive than halogen lamps," which sell foraround $20 each. He said he believes the money isworth it in light of the advantages.

"This way, no one will need to buy a halogenlamp," he said