A dimmable fluorescent lamp system having an electronic lighting ballast using pulse width modulation to control the amount of light produced by a fluorescent lamp, said system comprising: a microcontroller (502; 502a) comprising a tunable clock oscillator capable of generating any one of a plurality of clock frequencies and a pulse width modulation generator for generating a PWM signal, wherein the PWM generator receives a clock signal from the clock oscillator at the selected one of the plurality of clock frequencies; a circuit for converting the PWM signal to high and low drive signals; a first power switch controlled by the high drive signal; a second power switch controlled by the low drive signal; an inductor coupled to the first and second power switches, wherein the first power switch couples the inductor to a supply voltage, the second power switch couples the inductor to a supply voltage common, and the first and second power switches (106, 108) decouple the inductor from the supply voltage and supply voltage common, respectively; a direct current blocking capacitor coupled to the supply voltage common; a fluorescent lamp having first and second filaments, each filament having two connections, wherein a first connection of the first filament is coupled to the inductor and a first connection of the second filament is coupled to the DC blocking capacitor; and a filament capacitor coupling together a second connection of the first filament with a second connection of the second filament of the fluorescent lamp; wherein to control the amount of light produced by the fluorescent lamp, the microcontroller is programmed to provide course dimming steps by control of the PWM generator and fine dimming steps by selecting appropriate frequencies from the plurality of clock frequencies, wherein the selected one of the plurality of clock frequencies is within a range that allows current to flow through the fluorescent lamp to generate light. a microcontroller (502; 502a) comprising a tunable clock oscillator capable of generating any one of a plurality of clock frequencies and a pulse width modulation generator for generating a PWM signal, wherein the PWM generator receives a clock signal from the clock oscillator at the selected one of the plurality of clock frequencies; a circuit for converting the PWM signal to high and low drive signals; a first power switch controlled by the high drive signal; a second power switch controlled by the low drive signal; an inductor coupled to the first and second power switches, wherein the first power switch couples the inductor to a supply voltage, the second power switch couples the inductor to a supply voltage common, and the first and second power switches (106, 108) decouple the inductor from the supply voltage and supply voltage common, respectively; a direct current blocking capacitor coupled to the supply voltage common; a fluorescent lamp having first and second filaments, each filament having two connections, wherein a first connection of the first filament is coupled to the inductor and a first connection of the second filament is coupled to the DC blocking capacitor; and a filament capacitor coupling together a second connection of the first filament with a second connection of the second filament of the fluorescent lamp; wherein to control the amount of light produced by the fluorescent lamp, the microcontroller is programmed to provide course dimming steps by control of the PWM generator and fine dimming steps by selecting appropriate frequencies from the plurality of clock frequencies, wherein the selected one of the plurality of clock frequencies is within a range that allows current to flow through the fluorescent lamp to generate light.