While choosing LED lighting fixtures for office or home, we tend to get confused between Watts, Lumens, and Kelvin. During all these years we have always concentrated on Wattage of the fixtures while choosing them thinking they define how bright the light would be. But we have been no less than wrong while considering watts as a parameter for judging the brightness of the fixtures. Watts actually just measure the power consumed. Higher the wattage, higher would be the energy consumed and thus higher would be the monthly power bill. Here is a guide to what demarcates the brightness and efficacy of lighting fixtures, and what else if not just the Watts:
Wattage
While wattage is important while we look at traditional lighting solutions like incandescent bulbs but this holds no true for LED light fixtures. A 9 Watt (denoted W) fixture, for example, may replace a 60 Watt fixture if it emits enough Lumens. So while choosing an LED fixture, it is important that you pay importance to Lumens and not Watts.
Lumens
Denoted by lm, Lumens define the brightness of the lighting fixture. Higher the lumens, brighter the light. To help you better, here is a Tabular Format of choosing LED over Incandescent as per Lumens.
Incandescent Light in Lumens LED
100W 1600 <22W
75W 1100 <20W
40W 450 <9W
Kelvin
Kelvin describes the color temperature of the light source. Denoted by K, it specifies if the light is warm or cool. Higher Kelvin temperature (above 3500 K) is considered cool whereas lower Kelvin temperature (below 3500K) tends to be warm. Cool color temperature renders white-blue light and warm color temperature indicates yellowish light. Cool is good for use where alertness is required while peaceful settings demand warm color temperature.
The above guide lays emphasis on the difference between the units of measurement we find ourselves struggling with. So the next time when you are out looking for LED fixtures that save up on energy consumed and hence the money, keep in mind the Lumens and Kelvin. Save the environment, go the LED way!
Wattage
While wattage is important while we look at traditional lighting solutions like incandescent bulbs but this holds no true for LED light fixtures. A 9 Watt (denoted W) fixture, for example, may replace a 60 Watt fixture if it emits enough Lumens. So while choosing an LED fixture, it is important that you pay importance to Lumens and not Watts.
Lumens
Denoted by lm, Lumens define the brightness of the lighting fixture. Higher the lumens, brighter the light. To help you better, here is a Tabular Format of choosing LED over Incandescent as per Lumens.
Incandescent Light in Lumens LED
100W 1600 <22W
75W 1100 <20W
40W 450 <9W
Kelvin
Kelvin describes the color temperature of the light source. Denoted by K, it specifies if the light is warm or cool. Higher Kelvin temperature (above 3500 K) is considered cool whereas lower Kelvin temperature (below 3500K) tends to be warm. Cool color temperature renders white-blue light and warm color temperature indicates yellowish light. Cool is good for use where alertness is required while peaceful settings demand warm color temperature.
The above guide lays emphasis on the difference between the units of measurement we find ourselves struggling with. So the next time when you are out looking for LED fixtures that save up on energy consumed and hence the money, keep in mind the Lumens and Kelvin. Save the environment, go the LED way!
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