LED T8 replacement lamp products featured in DOE Gateway report

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has published the final report from an evaluation of three LED products designed to directly replace linear fluorescent lamps in commercial ambient lighting. These three products were among the "best in class" of products designed for this application at the time of the study, as identified by DOE's CALiPER testing program.

This Gateway demonstration report provides an overview of project results including lighting performance, economic performance, and potential energy savings.

Key findings include:

• All three LED products drew less power than their fluorescent counterparts but also provided significantly fewer lumens on the room and work surface grids measured beneath and beside them.

• The prices of the LED products are such that none pay for themselves when compared to the standard T8 fluorescent lamp used as the primary baseline in this study.

• If lower light levels are acceptable, similar energy savings can be achieved much more cheaply by substituting lower-wattage fluorescent lamps. Such lamps also have very long lifetimes (30K+ hours) and better lumen maintenance than the LEDs over their lifetime.

Alternative designs, such as panel-type products and overall troffer replacement systems, may prove more effective in the future than the products tested in this study. None of these alternative whole-luminaire designs were evaluated here, as this study focused exclusively on products designed for direct replacement of fluorescent lamps in existing troffers.

The report is available for download at http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/publications/pdfs/ssl/gateway_t8-replacement.pdf. This lighting demonstration is one of many DOE Gateway demonstrations that showcase high-performance LED products for general illumination.

To learn more about the DOE GATEWAY demonstration program, visit www.ssl.energy.gov/gatewaydemos.html.