12/19/2025
It’s all about the Lumens!!
The swap to LED can save a lot on your power bill, but with it comes a new level of definitions that should be understood, and most boxes will do their best to help and tell you right on the side something like “25 watt equivalent”.
What this means is equivalent to an incandescent bulb, because LED is so much more efficient it’ll produce the same Lumens all while using literally 1/5 the power consumption.
The other thing LED introduces to the equation is color temperature, ranging from Warm White to Bright White. You may have even seen numbers on the box or bulb, namely 2700k, 3000k, 3500k, 4000k, 5000k and higher. These colors range from candle light to hospital operating room, and because of that, in my opinion, each has its purpose and place. The main mistake I see and hear is that Bright White (5000k) is brighter than the other color temperatures, and though it may feel that way, a bulb, when constructed, is done in such a way to produce a certain amount of Lumens (the calculation for brightness). So even though our fancy bulbs nowadays can change from 2700k all the way to 5000k, it will produce its rated 800 lumens no matter what. The issue with this is then understanding that because bright white mimics light produced by the sun, when it’s dim or not enough lumens, it’ll feel like dawn or dusk, where you can kind of see but really need to focus, or need additional light to get the job done. In contrast, when something more warm is too dim or not enough lumens, it feels like a candle, or the fire needs another log.
Our church had 700 Lumen Bright White bulbs in their hanging fixtures, which I changed to 1700 Lumen Warm White bulbs. Can you see and feel the difference?
