CALiPER Snapshot finds LED troffer performance matching fluorescents

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) released an updated look at the LED troffers in its Lighting Facts database. The database now has almost four times the number of products listed in its previous troffer Snapshot report in 2014. In early 2014, the mean efficacy for troffers was 90 lm/W; today, it is 102 lm/W. More than 10% of the listed troffer products have a luminous efficacy greater than 125 lm/W, which is substantially higher than the efficacy of fluorescent-based troffers, which tops out at less than 100 lm/W. It found also that performance of troffer luminaires and troffer retrofit kits were nearly indistinguishable.

“In terms of color quality and power quality, LED troffers almost all offer the same performance as their fluorescent counterparts. The availability of a range of CCTs is a positive, but the limited variety of CRI values does not reflect the ability of LEDs to provide any desired color rendering performance,” the report said.

DOE Release (PDF): CALiPER Snapshot: Troffers