Lampholder having internal cooling passages

A holder for an energy efficient fluorescent lamp having a bi-pin base including a first pair of opposed side walls connected to a second pair of opposed side walls, and a bottom wall connected to both pairs of opposed side walls, the holder comprising:

• a unitary housing defining a lamp base insertion axis and having two opposed side walls connected to opposed end walls to form a lamp base receiving recess therebetween, the housing walls being substantially parallel to the insertion axis, and a bottom portion connected to the housing side and end walls in a direction substantially perpendicular to the insertion axis, and
• a pair of opposed elongate contact strips, disposed on the housing side walls and extending in a direction longitudinal of the insertion axis, for electrically engaging a respective pair of lamp pins when a lamp is received into the holder,
• characterized in that the housing includes two directly facing and opposed pairs of ribs, each rib pair extending into the recess from and continuously along a respective end wall, each rib being laterally spaced from a respective portion of a side wall, whereby four internal cooling passages are defined by the ribs, the side wall portions and the end walls, that the rib pairs define opposed clip retaining spaces, and that a resilient generally U-shaped heat conductive clip is disposed within the opposed clip retaining spaces, for gripping a pair of opposed lamp base walls and retaining a lamp base inserted into the recess, whereby the clip conducts heat energy away from the lamp base during normal operation of the lamp.