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US Ballast Standard Will Boost Savings

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Each year, about 80 million fluorescent lamp ballasts are sold for use in US commercial and industrial buildings. They come in four basic types: magnetic and electronic ballasts for operating T12 (32 mm diameter tube) and magnetic and electronic ballasts for operating T8 (26 mm diameter tube) lamps. In the present US market, almost all of the T8 lamps are operated by electronic ballasts, and almost all of the four-foot T12 lamps are operated by magnetic ballasts. Since electronic ballasts are more efficient and the lamp/ballast systems are more efficacious, a large potential energy savings can be tapped by transforming the market for ballasts operating T12 lamps into one dominated by more efficient T8/electronic systems.

Generally, electronic ballasts cost more than the magnetic ballasts, but they use less electricity. In most situations, the life-cycle cost (LCC) of an electronic lamp/ballast system will be less than for a magnetic lamp/ballast system with equivalent light output. In most past LCC analyses for the US Department of Energy (DOE), point estimates were used for the various inputs. In a recent analysis performed by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) for the DOE, a different approach was used. In this analysis, where the change in LCC was calculated, the four most important inputs were distributions. These distributions were developed to express the variability of electricity price, ballast price, operating hours, and ballast lifetime.

DIFFERENT SCENARIOS

LBNL calculated the change in LCC for 10000 combinations of these four variables. A Monte Carlo simulation was used to select from the distributions according to the frequency of occurrence of each possible value of each input. The two figures show the results of a probability-based LCC analysis in which commercial users replace energy-efficient magnetic T12 lamp/ballast combinations with electronic rapid start (ERS) T12 lamp/ballast combinations (Figure 1), or with ERS T8 lamp/ballast combinations (Figure 2).

In the first scenario, in which the T12 lamp is retained, LCC will be reduced about 80% of the time (represented by the delta LCC values in green, which are to the right of the $0 marker on the x-axis), with a mean savings of $6 over the ballast lifetime. For the second scenario (in which commercial concerns change from T12 to T8 lamps when they change from magnetic to electronic ballasts), LCC will be reduced about 98% of the time, with a mean savings of $18 over the ballast lifetime.

STANDARDS UNDERWAY

In late 1999, US manufacturers of lighting equipment and energy-efficiency advocates agreed to a set of energy-efficiency standards for fluorescent lamp/ballast systems found in commercial and industrial buildings. This occurred after years of discussion between ballast manufacturers and the DOE. LBNL supplied the energy and economic analyses (such as the LCC analysis) to the DOE, which were used for the negotiations and to prepare a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. LBNL also wrote a Technical Support Document on ballast standards.

The commercial and industrial lighting sector will be subject to new energy-efficient lighting regulations beginning April 1, 2005. These regulations affect ballasts that operate T12 fluorescent lamps. That market is mostly magnetic now.

Three ballast shipment scenarios were analyzed. Two involved decreasing shipments and one assumed constant shipments of magnetic T12 ballasts in the base case (i.e. without standards). The switch to electronic ballasts will result in cumulative energy savings of 1.2 to 4.9 quads (1.3 to 5.2 EJ) of primary energy over the period 2005Ð2030. Businesses will reduce electricity costs by $2.0 to $7.2 billion (discounted to 1997 at 7% real) and carbon emissions will be reduced by 17 to 70 million metric tons over the same time period. Since the cost of electronic ballasts will be higher than that of energy-efficient magnetic ballasts, LBNL estimated that the net savings to businesses will range from $1.4 to $5.4 billion (discounted to 1997 at 7% real).

Isaac Turiel

Isaac Turiel works with the Environmental Energy Technologies Division at the US Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
i_taps@dante.lbl.gov

Details about the three scenarios can be found in the Technical Support Document for the ballast notice of proposed rulemaking at www.eren.doe.gov/buildings/codes_standards/applbrf/ballast.html

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