A New Breed of Ballasts Miami FL

Lighting represents a huge cost for most commercial and industrial settings. After heating and air conditioning, lighting is often the next biggest expense. Hence, businesses are searching for ways to cut lighting costs and to make lighting more energe efficient.

Today, there is a variety of lighting options that businesses can choose from. Everything from compact fluorescent to LED to halogen to newer forms of incandescent lighting technologies can positively impact lighting costs. These new technologies do not neglect lamp life, lumen maintenance or the color rendering index, the three characteristics most users are concerned about in lighting today, according to Jeff Plaskon, ballast product manager, GE Consumer & Industrial. There are many lights today that deliver the same light output while using less wattage.

In addition to lighting, the ballast is another component to energy efficiency savings. New high-efficiency electronic ballasts are replacing the standard electronic ballast. Plaskon says nearly 20 percent of electronic ballasts installed for T8 lamps are high efficiency with an even higher percentage of ballasts sold for fluorescent retrofits.

In the past decade, electronic ballasts have become more sophisticated and cost less. Plaskon notes that in the 1990s, T8 fluorescent lamps became the lamp of choice for lighting upgrades and energy-efficient retrofits and they dominated retrofit sales versus the historically dominant T12 lamps. These T8 lamps were installed with electronic T8 ballasts that operated at approximately 82-percent efficiency. In other words, 18 percent of the total system power was consumed by the ballast.

The new breed

High-efficiency electronic ballasts, the new breed, can operate at greater than 90-percent efficiency, which will change the market in a big—and positive—way. Plaskon notes that 10 years ago, a lighting retrofit with a standard F32T8 lamp and electronic ballast provided up to 30-percent energy savings versus F34T12 magnetic systems.

Today high-efficiency ballasts with energy-saving F32T8 lamps are driving over 40 percent energy savings in general office applications compared to F34T12 magnetic systems, Plaskon says. This could mean over $27,000 in energy savings for the end user over the life of the lamp for a 200-fixture facility.

What makes these electronic ballasts attractive is that they provide the same level of light output as their standard counterparts, and more efficiently too. Plaskon says typical savings are 2 to 5 watts per ballast.

"The ballasts can be instant start or programmed start. It can also be available with program start low (.71), instant start low (.77), normal (.87), normal-high (1.0) or high (>1.15) ballast factor options for flexibility and to provide different levels of light output," he explains.

Plaskon adds that at a minimum high efficiency ballasts exceed the National Electrical Manufacturing Association (NEMA) Premium ballast program minimum ballast efficacy factor (BEFs) levels. The minimum BEFs established in the NEMA Premium program are the same BEFs within the CEE commercial program High-Performance Commercial Lighting program as well as the California Energy Commission (CEC) Title 20 minimum levels. They are also in harmony with most state and utility rebate programs as well. Ballast manufacturers will begin marking ballast labels and specifications in 2008 with the NEMA Premium mark that meet this high efficiency metric (see chart).

Plaskon notes that energy advocate groups continue to push the industry to adopt even higher minimum BEF standards. New metrics are being evaluated such as Ballast Efficiency (BE), which leads to a more accurate and precise measurement system that measures true electrical efficiency and eliminates the measurement issues related to light measurement in BEF measurements. As new, more accurate metrics are in place the industry will continue to become more environmentally conscious, reduce more watts from these lighting systems and increase these minimum efficiency metrics.

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct) has helped drive the need for high efficiency systems, and dramatically increase the demand for lighting upgrades. Federal tax incentives were included to kick start the implementation of energy-saving lighting retrofit projects. To qualify, the project must be placed in service between Jan. 1, 2006, and Dec. 31, 2008. Many companies are also working toward meeting ASHRAE 90.1 levels and Title 24 in California.

More ballast benefits

Plaskon says users are also getting additional features from these smart ballasts that are becoming the norm in the industry: multi-voltage control, UL type CC anti-arc rating, anti-striation control and active current regulation.

Multi-voltage control (MVC) ballasts can virtually "read" the incoming voltage and adapt automatically to any voltage from 108V-305V. Plaskon says the MVC:

• Reduces inventory hassles because fewer models handle more jobs.
• Simplifies installation without guesswork at the jobsite, because contractors don't need to bring both a 120V and 277V ballast to the site.
• Compensates for incoming voltage fluctuations or variations from unreliable power.

He adds that the UL type CC anti-arc rating, also known as arc guard protection, is a stringent designation of protection against arcing in electrical devices. An arc-guard design helps eliminate the damaging effects arcing can have on lamps and sockets.

Anti-Striation Control eliminates the maintenance issues caused by striating lamps, often referred to as spiraling or swirling, Plaskon notes. This provides a flicker and worry free environment.

He says active current regulation controls the output current to each lamp. If one lamp fails, the remaining lamps are not forced to operate at a higher current. This ensures optimal lamp performance and life. Another important feature is using ballasts that are voltage fed, a characteristic that minimizes ballast energy losses and ensures currents sent to lamps are adjusted to maintain light levels. Current-fed ballast designs maintain a constant current to the lamp, which lowers light levels as much as 3 percent to 7 percent when used with energy-saving lamps.

RoHS compliancy for electronic ballasts (Reduction of Hazardous Materials) is a directive that applies in Europe, but Plaskon explains some manufacturers voluntary comply with it right now in the United States. RoHS regulations require elimination of all heavy metals from ballasts, including lead. NEMA called U.S. suppliers to action to follow RoHS compliancy by 2010, which could result in federal legislation

Plaskon adds that because lamps and ballasts represent only about four percent of the total cost of light, high-efficiency ballasts can only improve the payback of a lighting retrofit. As energy efficiency continues to gain momentum, this new breed of ballasts is ready to make a major impact on the lighting industry.

Electronic ballast application

Many restaurants feast off their lighting as it can be a very important complement to the restaurant's food offerings, ambience and style. One such restaurant is Brazzaz, a Brazilian steakhouse in Chicago.

Brazzaz hired Schuler Shook as its architect and lighting designer to illuminate the dramatic space being created in the restaurant. One of the challenges Schuler Shook faced in using fluorescent was to "disguise" the lamps to appear warmer, more like an incandescent source. By hiding the fluorescent lamps inside warm-colored shades, they were able to make the lighting appear warmer. High-efficiency electronic ballasts help with lighting savings.

Custom, glowing pendants in orange and blue shades are a design motif throughout the restaurant. Backlit resin wall panels randomly dim up and down, simulating "hot embers"—the meaning of "Brazzaz" in Portuguese.

Recessed downlights were used for trackheads and downlights to provide direct lighting at dining tables that are often re-arranged to accommodate various groups, which required a lamp that could accommodate these "moving" tables.

"We chose the 50-watt MR 16 floods for their minimal size and precise, clean beam," says Jim Baney, principal in Schuler Shook's Chicago office. "They provide uniform lighting at the right level so the tables are well illuminated."

In some cases, the lighting took a back seat to ensure it was integrated with the architecture. Slots were created in the ceiling to hide borderstrips and track. The recessed downlights were located between pendants to provide a second layer of light for the tables. The designers used black cones for these downlights so the fixtures would blend in with the ceiling. The designers concealed fluorescent striplights within coves and behind wall panels to glow out onto walls and ceilings.

Baney estimates the fluorescent scheme is approximately four times more efficient than incandescent sources. It meets the stringent energy code plus offers the added benefit of making maintenance easier with a lifespan of anywhere from four to 10 times longer than incandescent lamps.