ic switchstart ballasts work fine with T12, T8 and a lot of LED tubes.
on average, 50% more costly than power in the US - one would think that en ergy efficiency would would be of greater concern to you than it seems to b e. We operate a 464 square meter center-hall colonial built in 1890 for US$
239/month (180 GBP). And we heat in the winter and cool in the summer. This includes heat, hot water, electricity, cooking, drying, and municipal wate r and sewer. Yes, we use a clothes line in the summer. But energy is dirt-c heap in the US relative to the rest of the world - not to suggest we waste it, but the only incandescent lamps we own are in the chandeliers. They too , are slowly giving way to LEDs.At the risk of stating the obvious, a person that buys an ancient piece of lighting isn't looking for the peak possible energy efficiency. It already has linear fluorescent lights so is quite efficient anyway. Iron ballasts o n a small low power light only used some of the time consume a trivial amou nt.
could always fit LED tubes with a wire fitted to short the ballasts. I can' t see any compelling reason to though.
NT