Expert: cleggsan - 11/9/2009

Question
What percentage power is absorbed by a standard ballast and what percentage is absorbed by an electronic ballast in a fluorescent light?

Answer
I don't know the exact answer to your question, but here is a very instructive site with a calculator of interest at the bottom.

http://www.ringdale.com/RenewableEnergyDevices/PowerSavingDevices.asp

Here is another with some claims at the bottom.

http://www.superiorlampinc.com/product_line/pdfs/Electronic%20Ballasts.pdf

Both of the above sites are advertising from the manufacturer and are duly considered sales literature.  However, here in the USA false advertising is carefully watched by the FTC so they daren't go too far afield in their claims.

This is a good primer on the operation and principles of various ballasts that may be instructive as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_ballast#Electronic_ballasts

Hope these are helpful.  Your answer is given qualitatively, but sorry I could not find any studies that compared the exact power differences between the two under similar lamp conditions.  Clearly the electronic ballast is more efficient and does away with strobing and with the hum noise of standard ballasts but temperature and other factors may reduce their life span.  Also, these two ballast designs age differently with the electronic ballast having an advantage - if it survives the environmental challenges.