What's in a Light Bulb?
3 pros!
Are you curious about what's behind compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) and light-emitting diodes (LEDs)?
The 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act said manufacturers had to make incandescent light bulbs at least 27 percent more efficient by 2014, which sparked their ongoing phase-out. It also opened the door for compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) and light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which have become more available and cheaper.
Waste not, watt not
When we just had incandescent bulbs, one watt was a reasonable unit of measure to compare the intensity of light. So you knew that 100-watt bulbs were brightest, followed by 75-watt, then 60-watt bulbs, and so on. But a watt is a unit of power, not brightness. Those incandescent bulbs convert only about 5 percent of the energy they use into light.
Lumens are a better measure of brightness. A lumen is unit of measure for light perceived by your eye. So while an LED bulb may only emit 10 watts of energy, it can glow up to 44 percent brighter than a 60-watt incandescent bulb.
Graphic by Jake Ziolkowski
