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Finding light bulbs that look good when you get them home has always been frustrating. But, there is now a foolproof way to avoid the “prison glow” you’ve love to hate.
Starting in January 2011 many companies began voluntarily labeling light bulb packages with lumens, watts, kelvins and efficacy. Greek to you too? Not worry. The label is now clear, easy to understand and full of fun colors.
The challenge and frustration with buying compact fluorescent bulbs or LED bulbs is trying to find ones that are the right color and brightness for your tastes. If you gave up on CFL’s because they were “too blue” or weren’t bright enough, you probably bought bulbs that weren’t labeled properly and ended up with a lousy bulb.
Now with the mandatory “Lighting Facts” label, you’ll find simple language like “color accuracy” and “light output.”
Until now it drove me crazy to try to explain to people how to find a good quality efficient light bulb that they’d be happy with. People would think they were doing their good deed for the planet or trying to save some money. But, they would soon be disappointed when they got home to find their living room turned into a scene from the film Clockwork Orange.
Light color, or color temperature, actually impacts hormones in your body. Until about a century ago, humans were exposed only to natural rhythms of sunlight and an occasional dim candle flame. Now you see people with an eerie blue glow staring into their iPhones at 10 p.m. Not exactly a healthy rhythm.
Ever notice how hard it is to fall asleep after working on the computer? Computer screens, and some light bulbs you’ve mistakenly bought, mimic the color of sunlight. These lights, sometimes called “cool white” or “bright white”, are great for working during the day, but lousy when you want to get cozy on the sofa. The high color temperature spikes certain hormones in your body that scream “the sun is up . . . stay awake!”
To find a light bulb you like, just look at the new Lighting Facts label on the package. I’ve posted a chart below that shows the color temperature of different types of light. Here’s a quick primer to take with you on your next shopping trip:
1. Bedroom and Living Room: Pick a bulb in the “yellow” range as close to 2700K as you can get.
2. Garage, Basement, Laundry and Utility Room: These are rooms where mimicking the sun is okay. So, look for bulbs in the “white” range and have a high color temperature of about 5800K. Don’t go too much higher than that or you’ll end up in the ugly “blue” range.
3. Computer Screen: There is a great free program I use called F.lux. It makes the color of your computer’s display adapt to the time of day, warm at night and like sunlight during the day.
Correction: The original version of this article incorrectly stated that the LightingFacts label was required on all bulb packaging starting in January 2011. The error has been corrected. According the DOE, the LightingFacts label is a voluntary pledge program.
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SOURCE
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DEGREES K |
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Artificial Light |
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Match Flame |
1700 |
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Candle Flame |
1850 |
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40-Watt Incandescent Tungsten Lamp |
2650 |
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75-Watt Incandescent Tungsten Lamp |
2820 |
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100-Watt Incandescent Tungsten Lamp |
2865 |
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500-Watt Incandescent Tungsten Lamp |
2960 |
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Professional Tungsten Photo Lamp |
3200 |
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Color Photography Studio Tungsten Lamp |
3350 |
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Photoflood or Reflector Flood Lamp |
3400 |
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Daylight Blue Photoflood Lamp |
4800 |
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Daylight (Sunlight is the light of the sun only. Daylight combines sunlight and skylight.) |
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Sunlight: Sunrise of Sunset |
2000 |
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Sunlight: One Hour After Sunrise |
3500 |
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Sunlight: Early Morning or Late Afternoon |
4300 |
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Average Summer Sunlight at Noon in the Mid-latitudes |
5400 |
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Direct Mid-Summer Sunlight |
5800 |
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Overcast Sky |
6000 |
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Daylight Fluorescent Lamp (see note below) |
6300 |
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Average Summer Sunlight (plus blue skylight) |
6500 |
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Light Summer Shade |
7100 |
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Average Summer Shade |
8000 |
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Summer Skylight (varies) |
9500 – 30,000 |
Comparison of a standard 60 watt (W) frosted incandescent lamp with a color temperature of approximately 2700 kelvin (K), a 13 W 3500 K compact fluorescent lamp, and a 13 W 5500 K compact fluorescent lamp. These lamps are all similar in lumen output, only the color temperature is different.
