The Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy recently issued a final rule adopting new test procedures for fluorescent lamp ballasts in standby mode, as required by section 310 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007. Even though this rule will become effective on 23 November, the DOE has not yet promulgated a standard for standby mode energy consumption by lamp ballasts and the standby mode test procedures will therefore not need to be performed until such a standard is in place.

The DOE believes standby mode only applies to ballasts that are active components of lighting control systems, meaning the ballasts incorporate electronics that can receive a signal from a control system and can respond to that signal by adjusting light output. These ballasts enter standby mode when they are instructed to reduce lamp light output to zero percent (i.e., providing no active mode function). In this situation, the ballast is connected to a main power source and offers a user-oriented feature by facilitating the activation or deactivation of its main function (i.e., operating the lamp to produce light) by remote switch or internal sensor (i.e., the control system). If, on the other hand, these same ballasts were dimmed to a level less than full output but greater than zero percent, they could not be in standby mode because they would be providing a ballast’s main function. The DOE notes that the test procedures are based on provisions contained and adapted from the current testing standard, ANSI Standard C82.2-2002.

Separately, the DOE has repealed the current energy test procedures for televisions under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act because these procedures have been made obsolete by the transition from analogue to digital TV in the United States. The DOE will soon begin a rulemaking process to establish a new energy conservation standard and test procedures for TVs.