THE NEW WORLD OF LIGHTING

Correlated Color Temperature (known as Lighting Temperature) is a way to describe the light appearance provided by a light bulb. It’s measured in Kelvin units and is most commonly found between 2200 Kelvin degrees and 6500 Kelvin degrees for residential applications. It is essentially a gauge of how yellow or blue the color of light emitted from a light bulb appears.  When selecting new lighting for your home, be sure to take its color temperature into account to ensure you're making the right choice.  There are four categories to consider. Warmlight - 2700K to 3000K. Softlight 3000K to 4000K, Brightlight 4000K to 5000K. Daylight > 5000K.

Color rendering index (CRI) is a measure of how accurately a light source displays colors. CRI is measured on a scale from 1 to 100, with 100 representing daylight. When designing any space, color, texture, and finishes play a critical role in the process. With high CRI lighting, colors pop, textures stand out, and finishes have greater depth and luster. Think of lighting as the major element of good design, which turns space, design, function, colors and textures into a vibrant enjoyable space.

Want to lower your energy costs and shrink your carbon footprint? Think ENERGY STAR. So what is the Energy Star and why does it matter? The Energy star is a rating system and by Earning the ENERGY STAR certification means the product meets strict energy efficiency guidelines set by the US Environmental Protection Agency. Product categories must contribute significant energy savings nationwide.

Lumens are an expression of brightness. If a bulb provides more light, the higher the lumen. Shop bulb brightness based on the rated lumens not the wattage. Lumens and CCT have no correlation. One is color, the other, brightness. People tend to interchange these terms but that is not correct.

The wattage of a light bulb is a measure of energy used. It is not a measure of brightness as once was. With LED lighting, one bulb may use more energy but have a lower lumen rating over another bulb. This is where quality pays. So when it comes to shopping for a light bulb, find ones that use low wattage and still give you the lumens you're looking for.

The Lighting Facts label gives shoppers the information they need to buy the most energy-efficient bulb to meet their lighting needs. The label includes a bulb’s brightness, energy cost, life, light appearance, and wattage. In addition, the principal display panel on the front of packaging focuses on lumens, a measure of brightness, rather than on watts, a measure of the amount of energy used, and includes the estimated yearly energy cost for each bulb. Bulbs themselves also feature lumens, and in the case of CFLs, a mercury disclosure.