A new device from the United States could make fluorescent lighting even more efficient than it already is.

Standard fluorescent lights save four times more energy than an ordinary light bulb, but they're still wasteful, and more efficient versions are expensive.

Now, the Center for Power Electronics Systems at Virginia Tech has patented a component that could make efficient fluoros affordable.

The device is an electronic 'ballast' — the part of a fluorescent light that conditions the power supply and controls the voltage provided to the lamp. Standard fluorescent lights have magnetic ballasts, but their efficiency is limited: only 60 per cent of every watt results in light. That means up to 40 per cent of energy is wasted as heat.

The major advantage of an electronic ballast is that a greater percentage of each watt — up to 90 per cent — is used to generate light.

Director of the Center for Power Electronics Systems, Dr Fred Lee, and Virginia Tech graduate student Fengfeng Tao have developed and patented an electronic ballast that reduces this wastage problem at a lower cost than ever before.

The new electronic ballast fluorescent lights can also be dimmed, further reducing energy use.

"The upshot of this is the electronic ballast extends the life of the bulb and makes for brighter lighting," said Dr Lee.

"Electronic ballasts reduce energy consumption by as much as 30 per cent."

In Australia, lighting accounts for nearly one-third of electricity use in commercial buildings, so the potential for electronic ballasts in fluorescent lighting to reduce energy consumption is enormous.

While electronic ballasts aren't new, previous versions were expensive due to higher manufacturing costs. As a result, the price difference between a standard magnetic ballast fluorescent light fitting for an office, and the same fitting with an electronic ballast, is about $11.00.

Not surprisingly, most businesses — the main market for fluorescent lights — use the former.

The new electronic ballast is an exception to this rule, said Dr Lee.

"It is less complicated and thus less costly to the manufacturer."

Tony Mohr, from the Energy Smart Business Program at the Sustainable Energy Development Authority of New South Wales, welcomed this latest development.

"Any reduction in the cost of electronic ballasts will strengthen the business case for energy efficiency upgrades."

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