Energy Savings with Solid-State Ballasts in a Veterans Administration Medical Center

More than 200 solid-state fluorescent ballasts were installed in representative areas of a federal medical center in Long Beach, CA, to determine the cost effectiveness of such an installation. The power and illumination levels in the test sites were measured first as they initially existed, then after the fixtures were cleaned and relamped with energy-saving fluorescent lamps, and finally after the core-coil ballasts were replaced with solid-state ballasts. The annual energy savings for the completed retrofit was measured as 33.9 percent. In the director's suite natural daylight was used to supplement the electrical illumination, providing an additional 20-25 percent energy savings. Thus in that area the total annual energy savings amounted to 48 percent. All of the measured data are analyzed on the basis of life-cycle costing. The analyses are presented on sets of curves relating the cost-effective price of a ballast to the cost of electrical energy.