Lumens and Kelvins are the new unit of measurement for light bulbs.

In the past, the strength of light bulbs was measured in watts, which is actually a measure of power. This isn’t a useful unit of measurement for new energy-saving light bulbs, which consume much less power than old-style incandescent light bulbs. So because comparisons based on wattage are no longer meaningful, the strength of new energy-saving light bulbs is expressed in lumens, which measures instead the amount of light produced; and kelvins – the colour of the light. The higher the number of lumens, the brighter the light. The bulb left is a 60W incandescent squirrel bulb compared to the 4W LED version on the right,  the 4W LED version is a bit brighter than the 60W incandescent despite using 15 times less electricity. This is why we can’t use Watts any more to choose or compare light bulbs. So instead think about: “How many lumens do I need”?  i.e. the Brightness; and “What Colour Temperature do I want”? Warm, White or Bright. If it’s all just too much! as a very rough guide please see below.

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