IncandescentClick here

Incandescent lamps are simple to use and inexpensive.  They produce a warm color temperature and are generally a good choice for providing soft, general ambient lighting.  They are easy to dim as well.  One disadvantage of incandescent lighting is short lamp life.  They also produce significant heat resulting in high energy costs.  Incandescent lamps are also of nominal size and offer minimal beam control.

Halogen – Low Voltage and Line VoltageClick here

Halogen lamps produce a clean, crisp white light and are known for their longer lamp life and higher lumen output per watt when comparing to incandescent sources.  Halogen reflector type lamps offer better beam control than standard incandescent reflector lamps yet may be too intense for some applications where a soft glow would be more appropriate.  Low voltage halogen lamps use a smaller filament, resulting in a smaller light source allowing for better beam control.  In addition to the long lamp life (up to 6,000 hours), it is easy to apply media such as color filters, light shaping filters and louvers to low voltage halogen lamps.  Due to their smaller trim sizes, recessed cans are much smaller and have less of a signature on the ceiling, and glare is generally eliminated. Line voltage halogen lamps can be dimmed with a regular dimmer while low voltage require an appropriate dimmer according to transformer type.

Compact Fluorescent SourcesClick here

Compact Fluorescent sources have an extremely long lamp life of an average of 10,000 hours.  These types of lamps offer a variety of color temperatures.  Compact fluorescent lamps produce more lumens per watt and radiate less heat than halogen or incandescent, providing large energy savings.  Fluorescent lamps have a hard time starting in cold weather when temperatures drop below the freezing point.  These lamps also have minimal beam control, resulting in high glare. Fluorescent sources can be dimmed down to 10% or 5% when they are used with special dimming ballasts and dimmers.

Metal Halide

Metal halide lamping, not normally considered an interior lighting source, does have some indoor applications.  In high ceiling environments such as warehouse stores and large retail shops where long lamp life is desired, metal halide lamping is often a good choice.  Since these lamps do not always come on at full intensity, a lamp warm up time is required before the public can enter the space.  Metal halide lamps of the same type can vary in color temperature which may be undesirable considering the application.  It is important to note that metal halide lamps are very hot and that they are normally required to be run in enclosed fixtures. Metal halides are not dimmable.