dimmable lamps

As a the Building Supervisior for the Grand Opera House in Belfast (Northern Ireland) I was interested to hear that the Aussie government are about to ban tungsten lamps in favour of energy efficient lamps. As far as I know there is no energy efficient lamp that will work on a dimming system. Am I wrong?

Where to start? Compact Flourscent Lamps CFL's have an internal switch mode power supply which is what makes them so efficient as the gas is energised at a high frequency. So you need to have a supply voltage applied to the CFL so it's switch mode supply can run. Dimmable CFL's can dim down to about 30% and cost about 10 times as much as standard or non dimmable CFL's. The minister has done an about turn on CFL's so a blanket ban on tungsten lamps is not going to happen. (They were actually referring to the GLS or general lighting service lamp).See the ALIA web site for more details. http://www.alia.com.au/forums/viewtopic.php?t=536 Energy efficient lamp is a broad term, there are two new developments that look like being more efficient than CFL's, see the http://hardware.slashdot.org/hardware/07/02/26/1916211.shtml and http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=3&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=Cunningham-D%24&OS=Cunningham-D$&RS=Cunningham-D$ There is a lot theatres can do to become energy efficient: Replace your old 1K profiles with Selecon Axial Acclaim 600 profiles, much more light output, 400 watts less. You will then save on running HVAC (air conditioning) ! Use dischage lamps for foyer lighting. Use LED's for step lights If you can accept the fan noise, use movers as a 250 watt discharge mover uses a lot less power than a 1K conventional. Any more and I will charge consulancy fees.

Thanks for the quick reply Don. We use CFL's in most backstage areas but as a Victorian (1895) theatre we have to use tungsten lamps in the auditorium to achieve the desired lighting effect. Check out our website www.goh.co.uk. I am considering changing all of our emergency and safety lighting to LED and trying to get the desk jockeys to turn off office lights. As for the consultancy fee I would be happy to oblige. Just call in person to the stagedoor here in Belfast. :)