When you're shopping for lightbulbs, compare lumens to be sure you're getting:
1) the amount of light,or
2) level of brightness, you want.
The Lighting Facts Label will help.
This new label will make it easy to compare bulb brightness, color, life, and estimated operating cost for the year.
Buy LUMENS, not WATTS
In the past, we bought light bulbbased on how much energy. or watts they used.
Wouldn't make it sense to buy light based on how much light they provide?
When you're shopping for lightbulbs, you can choose your next light bulb for the
brightness you want by comparing lumens instead of watts.
A lumen is a measureof the amount of brightness of a lightbulb.
The higher number lumens of lumens,the brighter the bulb.
What the Watt?
When buying an incandescent bulb, the watts rating gives consumers a good indication of how bright a bulb is.
The more watts, the brighter the bulb.That rule doesn't apply to LED bulbs, though.
An LED that uses 60 watts is in no way comparable to an incandescent bulb that uses 60 watts.
In fact, a 60-watt LED just may blind you. LEDs are designed to use less energy and naturally have a lower watt rating.
This means it's useless to use watts to determine brightness.To fix the problem, bulb companies have started using lumens to rate bulbs.
This gives you a more accurate indication of how much light to expect from an LED.
Why LUMEN?
Lumens measure how much light you are getting from bulb.
More lumens means it's a brighter light; fewer lumens means it's a dimmer light.
Measuring in lumens isn't a new concept designed just for LEDs.
It's a rating that's been used for decades as a measurement of how much light a bulb (or anything else) emits.
It just hasn't been predominantly displayed on packaging until recently.
Lumens let you buy the amount of light you want.So when buying your new bulbs, think lumens not watt.