As buying a light bulb has increased in complexity due to the “incandescent light bulb ban,” and with the introduction of newer CFL and LED technology, the old measurement of watts has been thrown out the window. Welcome to the new era of lighting, where “lumens” is the figure to look at.
With the old measurement of watts, consumers got a rough estimate of how much light a bulb would give off. More watts logically implies more light, so a 100 watt bulb would be brighter than a 40 watt. However, this type of measurement is only relative, as watts indicates how much energy a particular bulb uses, rather than how bright the light will be.
In contrast, lumens is a measurement of the light output of a bulb. The more lumens a bulb is rated at, the more light you can expect to get out of it. For the average consumer, this is a huge paradigm shift. Figuring out the number of lumens necessary to light up a room is a more difficult problem for consumers to solve these days than ever before.
With this in mind, the question becomes, “How many lumens do I need to light up a particular room?” In general, the more lumens you have from one or more light sources, the more lit up the room will be. Of course, this can create a range of problems, from too little to too much light, or light of the wrong color temperature that makes the room in general or certain objects too “warm” or “cool” for one’s taste.
So how many lumens do you need in a room? Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. However, start with the size of the room and work from there. The number of lumens necessary to light up a room is highly dependent on the square footage of the space, how high the ceilings are, the color of paint on the walls and furniture, and how far the people in the room will be from the light sources.
One good rule of thumb is to overshoot the amount of lumens you need for a living or bedroom, and install dimmers to control the light output. While all incandescent and halogen bulbs are dimmable, check manufacturers’ dimmer compatibility lists for household LED bulbs, or look for a CFL that specifies it is dimmable.
The only alternative is to plan for how many lumens you will need, and a good lighting consultant or designer can help with this for more higher end clients or for commercial and industrial spaces. For the average consumer, it may be a case of trial-and-error, or a boon for the dimmer switch industry.
Thankfully, some manufacturers and lighting experts have created a rough guide for equivalent watts for LEDs and CFLs. While not an exact science, this measurement can give consumers a better indication of the type of incandescent light bulb a given LED or CFL is designed to replace.
AUTOPOST by BEDEWY VISIT GAHZLY
