A ballast to energize a lamp is provided. The ballast comprises a buck converter connected to an inverter via a switching component. The buck converter includes a transistor, a capacitor, a diode, and an inductor. The switching component has a predetermined breakover voltage value and is configured to provide a start up signal to the inverter when voltage at the switching component increases to the predetermined breakover voltage value. A control circuit is configured to monitor the voltage at the switching component while the voltage at the switching component increases to the predetermined breakover voltage, and is configured to generate a gate drive pulse at a gate terminal of the transistor when the voltage at the switching component reaches a predetermined voltage that is less than the breakover voltage of the switching component.