Our Markets

High Intensity Discharge lighting (HID) lamp and ballast technology was introduced to the European and North American markets in the 1930s. The need for more light and better lamp efficiency than incandescent lamps drove this development. The first HID lamps were Mercury Vapor and Low Pressure Sodium lamps. They were driven by transformers that became known as ballasts. These lamps had poor color rendition but higher efficiency.

After World War II further development took place resulting in High Pressure Sodium which had improved color rendition and Metal Halide which provided better light quality and began replacing Mercury Vapor lighting.

Finally in 1997 the Pulse Start Metal Halide lamp was introduced which had lower light degradation, and a longer lamp life. At this point HID lamps had reached their limits of performance. They could only perform better if the ballast driving them was upgraded. This situation led to the development of the ROMlight electronic HID ballast for both High Pressure Sodium and Metal Halide lamps.

HID lighting is now used around the world in a multitude of applications. We have divided these applications into three market verticals namely, Commercial and Industrial, Municipal Street and Outdoor, and Hydroponics and Greenhouse. Each vertical has its own unique requirements and each of them benefit greatly from the use of ROMlight electronic ballasts with modern lamp and reflectivity technology. The following provides a detailed listing of HID applications within the three market verticals that the ROMlight product line serves.

Commercial, Industrial, Institutional

Municipal Street & Outdoor

Hydroponics and Greenhouses

It is important to note that the ROMlight product line has the breadth and depth of product models that can serve these market verticals very effectively, also being able to provide light output control (dimming) to accomplish light harvesting, peak trimming, and overall light management by the facility owner. All of these control options can contribute to overall energy saving. A dimmed lamp uses less power.The fact that ROMlight has its own line of Hi Bay fixtures ranging from 250 watts to 600 watts in Metal Halide and High Pressure Sodium puts ROMlight in a very strong position to serve the indoor retrofit and new construction markets.

Because ROMlight ballasts and fixtures cover a wide range of voltages, the ROMlight product can be used very effectively outside of North America where for the most part 220 volts to 240 volts power supply is common.

It is clear that energy conservation is a global need and this imperative will stimulate growth for products like the ROMlight electronic HID ballast that can save 25% to over 50% in electrical power.

The current size of the annual North American HID ballast market is approximately sixteen million (16,000,000) HID ballasts, selling for approximately $US 500,000,000, mostly to lighting fixture manufacturers. There is a small after market handled by Electrical Distributors but no robust replacement market because the current equipment does not provide energy savings. With the advent of the ROMlight Electronic HID ballast line there is now a good economic reason to replace old HID technology with new electronic ballasted technology. The electronic HID ballast and fixture will add significantly to the demand for HID ballasts and fixtures over time. The electronic HID ballast will penetrate the existing lighting fixture OEM market and become additional volume as the replacement of existing HID systems accelerates.
 
With this growth impetus it is likely that the North American electronic HID ballast market will increase rapidly and probably be 50% higher in three to five years. A similar trend will occur in Europe and Asia. Thus by the end of the decade it is highly likely that the global potential for electronic HID ballasts will be $US 2,500,000,000 to
$US 3,000,000,000.

ROMlight is well positioned to service the existing and growing market. ROMlight will focus on developing our marketing reach and the ongoing product development to maintain a leadership position. We intend to be in the vanguard of the global energy conservation movement with excellent product and supply systems. The future looks bright for ROMlight!

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