If we pay just a little attention, we will see there are many ways to save energy in production and business, such as using electric ballasts instead of ferromagnetic ballasts. In Vietnam, ferromagnetic ballasts are still widely used in industrial and residential lighting. However, this type of ballast has many disadvantages such as dispersing heat, creating noise, and causes lights to flash at 50 Hz, bulky capacitors, connection cable intensive requirement, and high costs for replacements and maintenance… The biggest disadvantage and least acceptable characteristic is that ferromagnetic ballast consumes a lot of power.

In industrialized countries, electric ballasts have replaced most ferromagnetic ballasts. In Vietnam, though still cautious, some large enterprises have applied this highly economic solution such as the supermarket chain Coop Mart which has replaced 100% ferromagnetic ballasts with electric ballasts EB-E fluorescent lighting. The advantage of this type of EB-E ballast is that it is compact in size, allows for easy installation and wiring, faster light-ups, can be used for 2, 3 or 4 bulbs at the same time; and most importantly, reduces 20% power consumption compared to conventional ballasts.

The market currently has several new types of electric ballasts, with many advantages meeting international standards in terms of power saving, safety and eco-friendliness. Some also have unique, integrated features such as: Warm start (hot start) to prevent shortening of the life of bulbs by being turned off and on; Smart power: maintain the brightness of lighting even when the voltage changes; Safety stop: automatically power off within 5 seconds when the bulb is broken and automatically restart when the bulb is replaced… The new electric ballasts saves from 25% to 30% of power compared to ferromagnetic ballasts, and also help to extend from 30% to 50% the life of the bulb.

Of special note, using electric ballasts in combination with T5 fluorescent bulbs will create one of the most economic, effective and green lighting solutions. This can help save up to 30% of electricity compared to T8 fluorescent bulbs and ferromagnetic ballasts, plus many other advantages such as: 1.5 time longer bulb life, compact size, elegance, brighter lighting. In Vietnam, some businesses have pioneered this solution, such as: the ABB factory in Bac Ninh applying conventional T5 solution, Viet Thang textile factory with T5 Retrosave solution. Electric ballast is the ideal solution for efficient lighting for factories, supermarkets, offices … and helps enterprises save money, and protect the environment.