"She tried to patent it, but she couldn't, so we agreed to offer an honararium of one dollar to Murr for each lamp Harvard uses," Lichten said.

The College will share this cost with the manufacturer of the lamps.

But administrators says they were influenced more by fire safety concerns than cost savings, since fluorescent lamps pose a much lower fire risk than the halogen lamps.

Both Dingman and Lichten said administrators had read reports of fires caused by halogen lamps at other schools and were particularly influenced by a fire caused by a halogen bulb several years ago in Canaday Hall.

Some first year students who already have the non-halogen lamps say they have been satisfied with their performance.

"I love them," said Chanley Howell '03, a Grays resident. "They're great. They have different intensities, for different moods, and just as much light as halogens."

But Leverett House resident Dodzie K. Sogah '01, who has not seen the new lamps yet, said he doubted the fluorescent lamps could ever approach the brightness and warmth of halogen lamp.

"I think it's a horrible idea," he said. "Fluorescent light is awful, and lamps tend not to be nearly as bright as halogens."