Recently granted the Eagle star award by the AICC (American Israel Chamber of Commerce), Metrolight - maker of smart electronic ballasts for high-intensity discharge lamps is on its way to be recognized as a significant contributor to global energy saving technology.
Over the past decade Metrolight has been developing electronic ballast solutions for HID lighting systems. Today the company has installations in major retail chains around the world that have accumulated over 1.4 billion operating hours. The overall savings have mounted to over $6.5 million in energy costs, and have shown a low rate of failure.
Metrolight’s motto is to help companies work smarter while improving the environment. Their overall goal is to reduce worldwide electricity consumption by at least three per cent. The Metrolight vision caught the eye of high profile venture capitalists such as Sir Richard Branson’s venture capital firm Virgin Fuels, Gemini Israel Funds, Israel Cleantech Ventures and Israeli investor Altshuler Shaham. Together they invested $9 million into Metrolight.
Metrolight’s ballasts can be controlled by analog devices like motion sensors so that HID lamps turn on and off when needed. For example; parking lot lights managed by Metrolight ballasts could keep the lights dim unless cars are enter or exit, potentially generating significant cost savings for their owners. Metrolight’s lamps last twice as long as traditional HID lamps and can be recycled once their lifespan has ended.
The system in effect provides the same amount of light as more traditional magnetic or electromagnetic systems, but requires less overall power.
Today the Metrolight solution goes far beyond standalone ballast: With the development of a communication interface - a central computer runs smart, yet simple control software for lamp monitoring and ballast status, defining schedules for dimming and switching lamps on and off.
The technology also complements some of the new lighting technologies. For instance, some companies are touting systems that pipe sunlight or electrically generated light into rooms with fiber-optic cables. Since the sun doesn’t shine all of the time, building contractors are considering combining sunlight/fiber systems with an HID system powered with Metrolight’s dimmers. The lights hooked to the lamp/fiber systems are actually HIDs anyway, so they are tailored for the dimmer.
