{"id":98,"date":"2014-02-13T17:15:40","date_gmt":"2014-02-13T22:15:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?p=98"},"modified":"2014-02-14T09:23:19","modified_gmt":"2014-02-14T14:23:19","slug":"basking-in-a-new-glow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?p=98","title":{"rendered":"Basking in a New Glow"},"content":{"rendered":"

The New York times has an “I Heart LEDs”<\/a> article in today’s paper that leaves out some important information about evaluating them. \u00a0Here are some additional thoughts.<\/p>\n

The government hasn’t done a very good job of publicizing or explaining that the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007<\/a>\u00a0(EISA) set minimum efficiency requirements\u00a0for general use light bulbs (the act excluded decorative and colored products). \u00a0The incandescent lamp that’s been around for over 100 years doesn’t meet the energy efficiency standard. \u00a0Rather than re-engineer incandescent lamps, the lamp manufacturers have focused on expanding and emphasizing compact fluorescent (CFL) and light emitting diode (LED) technologies. \u00a0Again, you can still purchase 40 – 100 watt decorative incandescent lamps but not A-lamps, the most common shape in use.<\/p>\n

The easiest substitution, one that requires no thinking about rewiring, dimming, etc., is the halogen lamp. \u00a0Halogen lamps are an improvement on standard incandescent lamps, and many of them meet the EISA energy efficiency requirements.<\/p>\n

If you’re looking for higher energy efficiency, and are willing to pay a higher price up front to get it, CFL and LED lamps are available in a wide range of wattages and shapes. \u00a0However, they \u00a0need to be approached with caution. \u00a0Both technologies can be difficult to dim, especially with older dimmers that were designed with incandescent lamps in mind, so your existing dimmers may need to be replaced. \u00a0They can also produce unsatisfactory tints of white light. \u00a0LEDs are especially notorious for not matching the information provided on the packaging, as demonstrated through the Department of Energy’s CALiPER<\/a> program.<\/p>\n

Here’s what to look for. \u00a0Every light bulb package should have a Lighting Facts Label<\/a> that looks like this.<\/p>\n

\"Lighting<\/a>
Lighting Facts Label<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The orange\/yellow\/white\/blue color bar is where you’ll find information about the warmth or coolness of the light, both with an arrow on the color bar and with a number. \u00a0The number is called the Color Temperature (actually the correlated color temperature) and measures the warmth or coolness in Kelvin. \u00a0The important thing to know is that a lower number (2700 to 3000 K) is roughly equal to an incandescent light bulb. \u00a0As the number gets higher the light gets cooler.<\/p>\n

Warmth\/coolness isn’t the only measurement of the quality of light. \u00a0Another consideration is how well the light source allows us to see the colors of objects. \u00a0This is called Color Rendering (Color Accuracy on the Lighting Facts Label) and is indicated by a Color Rendering Index number. \u00a0Higher numbers (with a maximum of 100) indicate better color rendering, so a light with a Color Accuracy of 95 should be visibly better than one of 80.<\/p>\n

The Color Rendering Index is not very specific, however, and is known to misrepresent LEDs. \u00a0Therefore you<\/strong> are the best, final test of whether or not a given light bulb is appropriate. \u00a0I recommend purchasing only one or two and trying them out for a few days before committing to changing over your entire house.<\/p>\n

My other recommendation is to stick with the major manufacturers (GE, Philips, Sylvania) for most lamps that you test. \u00a0These companies have a track record of product consistency and quality that many of the newer manufacturers don’t. \u00a0I can almost guarantee that with an off-brand 5-pack of lamps for $10 you’ll get what you pay for and hate the results. \u00a0It’s not the technology that you’ll hate, but the manufacturer’s poor execution of the technology.<\/p>\n

I hope this helps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The New York times has an “I Heart LEDs” article in today’s paper that leaves out some important information about evaluating them. \u00a0Here are some additional thoughts. The government hasn’t done a very good job of publicizing or explaining that the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007\u00a0(EISA) set minimum efficiency requirements\u00a0for general use light … Continue reading Basking in a New Glow<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[12,13,11],"tags":[31,27,29,30],"class_list":["post-98","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-color","category-lamps","category-leds","tag-cfl","tag-color-rendering","tag-color-temperature","tag-led"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4gZSw-1A","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1009,"url":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?p=1009","url_meta":{"origin":98,"position":0},"title":"White House to Relax Energy Efficiency Rules for Light Bulbs – The New York Times","author":"Jason Livingston","date":"September 10, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"In 2007 Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) with the goal of increasing energy efficiency across the economy. \u00a0Part of EISA has affected the lighting industry in the form of mandated efficacy of light sources. \u00a0The initial efficacy rules targeted A-Lamps (standard household light bulbs) and set\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Codes"","block_context":{"text":"Codes","link":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?cat=5"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":622,"url":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?p=622","url_meta":{"origin":98,"position":1},"title":"MIT Creates Incandescent Lamp As Efficient as LEDs","author":"Jason Livingston","date":"April 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Researchers at MIT and Purdue University have demonstrated an incandescent lamp with an efficacy of 6.6 percent, and with a potential efficacy as high as 40 percent. The paper was published in the April issue of Nature Nanotechnology. The demonstration compares favorably to current low efficacy fluorescent and LED lamps,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lamps"","block_context":{"text":"Lamps","link":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3407,"url":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?p=3407","url_meta":{"origin":98,"position":2},"title":"New Energy Efficiency Rules Ban Incandescent Light Bulbs: What to Know – The New York Times","author":"Jason Livingston","date":"August 2, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"We've known for a while that the day was coming, and now it's here. \u00a0Effective yesterday retailers will no longer be permitted to sell most incandescent lamps (which includes halogen lamps) in the U.S. \u00a0There are some exceptions for things like bug lights, but not many. Replacement lamps for sale\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lamps"","block_context":{"text":"Lamps","link":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":635,"url":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?p=635","url_meta":{"origin":98,"position":3},"title":"IALD Responds To DOE Energy Conservation Program","author":"Jason Livingston","date":"May 16, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"As I posted in March, the Emerging Technologies Program of the DOE\u2019s Building Technologies Office asked for pubic comments on extending the minimum efficacy of incandescent lamps used in general illumination applications, specifically: Incandescent lamps that currently do not have a suitable replacement lamp meeting or exceeding 45 lumens per\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lamps"","block_context":{"text":"Lamps","link":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1811,"url":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?p=1811","url_meta":{"origin":98,"position":4},"title":"26 Consumer Groups Urge D.O.E. to Take Action on Lamps","author":"Jason Livingston","date":"June 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"You may recall that in 2019 the Trump administration blocked a rule intended to phase out incandescent lamps and encourage a conversation to more energy efficient models, namely LEDs. \u00a0If you don't remember the New York Times and NPR both had articles, among many others. Last week, the Consumer Federation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lamps"","block_context":{"text":"Lamps","link":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3544,"url":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?p=3544","url_meta":{"origin":98,"position":5},"title":"147 Countries Agree to Eliminate Fluorescent Lamps by 2027","author":"Jason Livingston","date":"December 3, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The Minamata Convention on Mercury, a program of the United Nations with delegates from at least 150 countries, is dedicated to improving global health by phasing out the use of mercury in manufacturing, banning new mercury mines, and limiting mercury emissions. \u00a0 Last month, 147 countries (out of a global\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lamps"","block_context":{"text":"Lamps","link":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=98"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102,"href":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98\/revisions\/102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=98"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=98"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/designinglight.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=98"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}