11 Most Efficient LED Troffers

A listing of highly efficacious LED troffers. High Lumens per Watt.

ESCOs, energy rebates, legislation, advancement in LED chip performance and good ol' competitive leapfrogging are among the factors that contribute to a continuously rising bar of LED troffer performance. As a result of these perpetual improvements, we decided to crunch data and analyze complex spreadsheets in a valiant quest to discover the lighting industry's most efficient LED troffers.

Efficacy is certainly an important consideration when selecting fixtures of nearly any type. But it should not be the sole consideration. Just like price, aesthetics, installation-ease, quality, warranty, manufacturer reputation and other factors are not typically the sole reason to decide on a fixture, efficacy is simply one measure of many when lighting decision makers evaluate their options. The decision makers determine how much importance and weight to apply to the efficacy factor in comparison to the other important considerations.

It should also be noted that there are often trade-offs to achieving high efficacy. Light distribution, glare, diode image, visual comfort and other factors may be negatively affected in fixtures with ultra-high efficacy. The best manufacturers have found effective ways to maximize efficacy while minimizing the impact of those potentially negative drawbacks.

We feared that a simple list of most efficacious fixtures would yield a collection of 6500K troffers with 70 CRI. In order to avoid that gruesome outcome, we decided to divide our Top 11 list into a few different categories; varying color temperatures and color rendering qualities.

All information was pulled from two sources: the U.S. Department of Energy Lighting Facts database and DesignLights Consortium Qualified Products list.

Category 1: 4000K Class, 90+ CRI

119.0 lm/W GE Lumination LBV Series GE Lumination LBV Series Recessed Architectural LED Luminaires bring a designer touch to any drop ceiling landscape. For new construction or retrofit, these distinctive luminaires provide a beautiful sculptural look in an easy-to-install LED solution. The LBV architectural lighting luminaires feature curving and delineated details with the express purpose of creating added visual interest. Listed model: LBV24A030MMT40Vxxxxxxxxx

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111.5 lm/W VM5 Lighting Solutions Bryson Series VM5 Lighting Solutions ultra-low profile Bryson Series Flat Panels are ideally suited for those shallow applications where mounting space often competes with other building services. High in performance, the Bryson Flat Panels delivers the crisp, clean light that end users have come to appreciate in LED lighting. Listed model: MFP-24-4000K-30W

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106.7 lm/W Cree CR Series Engineered to deliver unrivaled performance and efficiency, the CR Series LED architectural troffer delivers up to 5000 lumens of 90+ CRI light while achieving up to 130 lumens per watt. Ideal for LED architectural lighting applications, these troffers are available in a variety of color temperatures. Listed model: CR24-50L-40K-xxx

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102.5 lm/W Columbia Lighting LTRX LTRX is designed for medical examination rooms and provides a normal, comfortable general ambient light level as standard. When switched to exam mode, LTRX doubles the light level on the examination table. A curved, easily cleaned surface, LTRX ships standard with Antimicrobial paint which resists bacterial growth on exposed painted surfaces. Listed model: LTRX24-40AXx-RFA-EAX-U

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100.0 Lm/W Essentia® by Cree Flat Panel The Essentia® by Cree Flat Panel product family provides lighting customers with quality LED flat panel solutions for use in recessed and suspended commercial applications, all backed by the industry leader in LED lighting technology - Cree. The fully luminous flat panel with an optically-efficient, edge-lit design transforms any space with soft, low-glare illumination while providing exceptional application flexibility, performance, and return on investment. Listed model: FP24-40L-40K-xxx

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Category 2: 4000K Class, 80+ CRI

149.0 lm/W Nulite Sottile L2D Series Introducing Sottile [so-tee-lay] 2D, a new fully luminous architectural recessed luminaire. This cost effective, energy efficient, luminaire series provides soft ambient illumination with a modern appearance. Our optical system consists of proprietary lenses which are engineered for balance between light transmission and shielding of the lamp source along with housing geometry to achieve a cohesive soft luminous quality. Listed model: L2D-4-30HPL40 - 2x2 shown. Data relates to 2x4.

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142.6 lm/W Luceco Panel - LPB Premium framed panel boasting lower wattage and higher efficiency. Supplied with driver, available in standard fixed output or dimmable. Quick and easy to install with few maintenance requirements. Emergency options available, sold separately. Listed model: LPBP24W70G2D40-US - 2x2 shown. Data relates to 2x4.

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142.33 Lm/W ALSET Frosted Lens 2'x4' LED Troffer From the makers of the NuWave Oven (available at fine department stores everywhere) comes a highly-efficacious 2x4 troffer. It should be noted that the efficacy cited on the DLC report differs from that on the company's website. Featuring a frosted lens to reduce glare, the ALSET® Frosted Troffer LED is both convenient and versatile. The UL and DLC certified fixture is both dimmable and instant on. Listed model: TRK24-5L-40K-UL

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Category 3: 5000K Class, 80+ CRI

150.79 Lm/W Axlen Lighting e-Solis LED Panel Light Axlen’s e-Solis edge lit LED panels represent a major breakthrough in design innovation and the future of solid-state lighting. They are the perfect lighting source for commercial and industrial office buildings, retail space, conference centers, hospitalities, classrooms, etc, offering significant improvements in lighting quality and energy savings. Listed model: AX-PL4-32W50K

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149.53 Lm/W Metalux FR Series The FR series is a premium commercial LED luminaire which offers a high quality lighting solution dedicated with the latest solid state lighting and electronic driver technology for optimal performance and energy efficiency. Listed model: [All Rating]-24FR-[All Door Frames]-LD4-30-HP-[Voltages Include 120]-[All Emergency Options]-L850-[All Flex Options]-5LTD1-[Sensors Include Blank & All Sensors]-[ALL Packaging]

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147.5 Lm/W Mobern Lighting RDISE LED The RDISE LED is a specification grade, Volumetric Recessed LED Luminaire which provides smooth and uniform ambient lighting for all commercial and industrial buildings with recessed configurations. Reflected light from matte surfaces provide a softened appearance to the modern office environment. Listed model: RDISEH24-LED28FRDMV50 - 2x2 shown. Data relates to 2x4.

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Methodology

There is probably over a dozen different satisfying ways that we could have sliced and diced the data to come up with this list. We chose to keep the list relatively short and decided upon the following methods that we believe provide a useful snapshot for lighting professionals. Since all of the source information is publicly available for download, interested parties who want to do research beyond our list, can do so by visiting the DOE and DLC websites.

Source:

Information was downloaded on Feb 15, 2017 from the U.S. Department of Energy Lighting Facts database and the DesignLights Consortium Qualified Products List. If you have issues with the specifications that we cite on inside.lighting, please know that we pulled the data directly from the DLC and DOE websites.

Information was gathered using the Reported Efficacy and Reported CCT of each fixture. Initially, we wanted to report only on fixtures that were actually tested by the DOE and DLC, but doing so eliminated a large quantity of highly efficient fixtures from many reputable manufacturers.

It's quite possible that fixtures that are not listed with the DLC or Lighting Facts outperform the fixtures above. These two sources cast the largest net over the LED troffer category.

Fixtures:

• Fixtures are full, complete LED troffers; not retrofit kits.
• They are also 2' x 2' or 2' x 4' fixtures. We excluded other shapes and sizes.
• The fixtures must also be commercially available. (i.e. The J2 Light A2241L41 is troffer that achieved 152.7 lm/W. It is not listed on the manufacturer website on Feb 17, 2017, so we excluded it from our list.)

Correlated Color Temperature:

The criteria for the Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) is as follows:

4000K Class: Reported CCT is between 3750K and 4250K.

5000K Class: Reported CCT is between 4750K and 5250K.

Yes, we realize that creating these classes potentially eliminates highly efficacious fixtures that have CCTs between 4251K and 4749K. Our decision to choose these two bands was driven by:

• Market feedback points towards office and school applications selecting of 4000K more frequently than 3500K. Consequently, we focused primarily on 4000K fixtures.
• We added a few 5000K fixtures since, after all, this is a list about highly efficient fixtures. Lighting purists may scoff at the notion of lighting a space with 5000K, 80CRI fixtures They wouldn't be our first choice at the inside.lighting world headquarters offices. Yet we felt it was necessary to post this information to demonstrate where some of the highest efficiencies currently are. It is our hope that we look back on these numbers a year or two from now and realize that the 2017 efficiencies for 5000K/80 CRI are close to what 4000K/90 CRI efficiencies are in the near future.

Eligible Manufacturers:

Since inside.lighting primarily serves lighting professionals in the U.S. and Canada, we thought it would be prudent to list manufacturers that meet at least one of the following criteria:

• Manufacturer has a U.S. or Canadian office.
• Manufacturer's website cites U.S. or Canadian lighting agent partners
• Manufacturer's website cites U.S. or Canadian distributors or dealers.
• A Google search for the manufacturer name and "representative" returns results with North American agents that represent the product.
• A Google search for the manufacturer name and "distributor" returns results with North American electrical distributors that sell the product.

Undoubtedly there are high-performing products from off-shore companies that do not meet this eleigble manufacturer criteria. North American OEMs likely sell them under different brand names. We tried inquiring with certain off-shore companies asking which manufacturers re-sell their products in North America, but they either (1) did not respond or (2) did not fully understand our line of questioning, presumably due to a language barrier. As a result, some of the following companies had high-performing products that are not included in the list: Shenzhen Mason Technologies, Xiamen Yankon Energetic Lighting Co., Ltd., Guangdong Mason Technologies Co., Ltd., Sunzhou RUNLUX Electric Ltd., Shenzhen Bbier Lighting Co.,ltd, Torshare Ltd., Komka Green Lighting. At least one of the eleven products cited on our list is manufactured by one of these aforementioned companies.

Why a Top 11 list and not Top 10 list?

We initially considered a Top 10 list. Upon further reflection, however, we became inspired by the paradigm-shifting perspectives of visionary Nigel Tufnel's convincing demonstration that 11 is superior to 10.

More details in the 49-second video below.

February 20, 2017

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