ECPZone.com |

Lighting is an integral component of any building. When used correctly, it can enhance a building's performance, reduce electricity costs, and at the same time give off the proper amount of illumination. One particular lighting solution that is widely used are dimmable ballasts, which more often than not are used alongside fluorescent light bulbs to offset a large portion of electric lighting loads.

While in the past dimmable ballasts were implemented primarily for architectural applications such as conference rooms and multi-media rooms, where it was necessary to dim the lights for various tasks and presentations, the focus has shifted more towards energy savings as environmental responsibility and sustainability have become hot topics in building management.

"Recent developments with dimmable ballasts have been focused on energy savings. Incorporating lighting controls with dimmable ballasts as part of an energy management strategy can provide significant savings to an end user," says Greg Bennorth, marketing specifications manager, Universal Lighting Technologies.

Bennorth adds that the installed costs of these new energy management lighting systems can provide paybacks similar to or better than the common energy saving lighting retrofits with fixed light level systems. Today's technologies can use a wide variety of controls, integrate into a building management system, and even control over the internet, making them very flexible for a wide variety of applications.

Although dimmable ballasts are more expensive than conventional non-dimming ballasts, cost savings come into play because they pre-heat lamps before turning them on to ensure longevity, have control circuitry to make sure the lamps have equal light levels when dimmed, and use microprocessors to interpret user inputs to operate at the correct light level. Other energy conservation strategies, like daylight harvesting and occupancy sensors, structured together with dimmable ballasts provide remarkable energy savings to users.

Daylight harvesting refers to the latest practice of monitoring artificial light in accordance to the available amount of ambient light coming through windows and skylights in a room. Dimmable ballasts that are outfitted with a sensor identify the natural light and reduce the artificial light levels when more sunlight is available. During the daytime, less light is needed allowing energy costs and consumption to effectively decrease. Energy savings can be up to 30 to 40 percent in most commercial spaces.

Audey Cash, engineering project leader, Lutron Electronics Co. Inc., explains that there are many control options to be used in connection with dimmable ballasts including: