I can remember when I was growing up and we needed a light bulb, all I needed to know was the wattage. I knew how much light 40, 60, 100 watt light emitted, or at least I thought it did. In reality, a watt measures the amount of electricity used by the device. It is a measure of consumption or usage and nothing to do with the light output. A lumen is what measures the visible light. In other words: Lumens are what you see. Watts is what you pay for.

With the rising cost of electricity, people are looking for ways to save money. As LED becomes more popular and fluorescent lighting is less desirable because of poor light quality and trace levels of mercury. Incandescent lighting is the other common light source in homes. For example, An LED that uses 100 watts cannot be compared to an incandescent bulb that uses 100 watts. In fact, your eyes would not be able to cope with the light.

The bottom line is: LED uses less energy and therefore a lower watt rating. As a result, the bulb companies are displaying lumens as there packaging to rate bulbs. Measuring in lumens is not new it has been used for decades.

 

So how bright is a lumen?

Not going into details here but 1 candle power is equivalent to 12.57 lumens. Candle power is measured by the light that is illuminated in a square foot, one foot away from a single candle. But like I said – that is for another day. Hope this is of some help. Any questions please call us at HomeMasters on 8326 8885.