The Effect of Lighting System Components on Lighting Quality, Energy Use, and Life-Cycle Cost

A computational method was developed to examinesthe effect of lamp, ballast, and fixture selection on the quality andsquantity of illumination, energy consumption, and life-cycle cost ofslighting systems. Applying this analysis to lighting layouts usingsdifferent lamp/ballast/fixture combinations suggested thatscombinations with higher lumen outputs reduced the uniformity ofsthe illuminance distribution at the workplane but did not reducesvisibility levels. The use of higher lumen output lamp/ballast/fixturessystems and higher efficiency components tended to reduce life-cyclescosts as long as the premium cost of the components was notstoo high.