Here we are in 2023, nearly 10 years from the initial LED boom, and there are still many fluorescent tube and ballast systems in use. Fluorescent T5 upgrades over metal halides were a big thing 15-20 years ago and as such those who invested in these systems wanted to get bang for their buck.

While ballasts and fluorescent tubes are still available like your basic F32/841, many of the bigger manufacturers have stopped making them and specialty fluorescent lamps like high CRI and lower-watt/energy-saver options are getting very difficult to find. Legislation in the years ahead will likely make it even harder.

The same cannot be said for LED; the options are plentiful in categories like LED T5 lamps and LED Highbays, if anything the myriad of options requires more analysis of what the best option is. In the race to convert to LED early on, often times the function of the space was forgotten about in the name of energy savings. It is still the primary goal to adequately light a space so the task at hand can be accomplished.

In the case of the picture above at a Minnesota Transit bus garage, there were numerous 220W T5 fluorescent fixtures. The colors were all over the place between inconsistent bulb SKU’s of Warm White/Cool White and degrading fluorescent lamps and ballasts that affected the overall output and color that the lamps emit. Converting to new 115W LED fixtures resulted in color uniformity at 4000K cool white and greatly increased light levels.

Color in lighting has been a popular talking point for eons and color-select technology’s recent prevalence will of course further grow interest in it. Color changes can transform an area. In turn there are more folks getting color-select LED to be able to change them when they want to suit their preference, whether it is in their personal space or work area that they are in charge of.