Mood lighting for the green tech era
SAN FRANCISCO--Did you know there aren't many fluorescent lamps with a dimmer knob on the market? It's true, said Bennett Johnston, vice president of corporate development at Lumenergi, during a presentation at the Cleantech Forum in San Francisco this week.
The Sparks, Nev.-based company has come up with what it calls a dimming electronic ballast, basically a fluorescent lamp that comes with a dimmer. The dimmer can be operated manually (to create a mood) or by computer (to save energy). Savings in energy costs can be as much as 70 percent, according to the company.
Some companies currently make dimming fluorescent ballasts, but they are expensive: "payback," or the time it takes the energy saved to make up for the cost of the lamp, takes about seven years. As a result, you only see them in boardrooms. Lumenergi's lamps will pay for themselves in about two years, Johnston said.
The market is huge. In the U.S., 60 million fluorescent ballasts are sold each year, he said. The company plans to sell fixtures for new buildings as well as aim for the retrofit market.
"Eighty-five percent of all light energy in commercial buildings is fluorescent," he said.
The first products will hit the market in March. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a federal office building have already signed on as customers.
