Today, lumens are the new standard for measuring the brightness of any given lightbulb. In the simplest terms, a lumen is a unit of brightness; the more lumens a bulb produces, the more light it gives off. To be more precise, the lumen is quantified by the International System of Units (or SI) to measure luminous flux, or the power of light as perceived by the human eye.
The use of lumens as a standard measurement for bulb brightness has gained traction in recent years, thanks to the prominence of energy-efficient LED light bulbs. In many places, lumens are now legally required to be listed on lightbulb packaging alongside other measurements.
The lumens scale does not inherently provide any info about measurements like power consumption or color, as it is only a measure of how much light the bulb can produce.
Many customers shopping for lightbulbs remember a time when wattage was used to describe how bright an incandescent bulb was. You might only need a 40-watt bulb for your table lamp, but you’d need a 100-watt bulb in your kitchen’s ceiling lights. But wattage isn’t a measurement of how much light is being produced. Instead, it measures the amount of electricity the lightbulb draws.
In the past, these numbers were analogous because any two incandescent lightbulbs that drew the same wattage of power would produce approximately the same amount of light. For example, two 60-watt incandescent bulbs would provide the same amount of light regardless of brand or style because of the way the filament converts electricity to light.
LED lights, by contrast, can produce the same amount of light while drawing drastically less power. The introduction of LED lights as an effective and energy-efficient alternative to incandescent bulbs led to the need for a new standardized measurement. That’s where the lumen scale comes in.
Using the watts scale, comparing a 60-watt incandescent lightbulb to a 20-watt LED bulb would make the LED bulb seem dimmer than the incandescent, when the opposite is true. Instead, it’s easier to standardize brightness measurements using lumens, which are an objective measure of how much light is produced.
Nowadays, you’ll typically find LED lights sold with both a lumens rating and a wattage equivalency listed to compare the two different styles.
Light quality is another important aspect of illuminating a room. Does the space require warm lighting, cool lighting, or something more neutral? Rather than using the lumens scale, think about the Kelvin scale to evaluate color temperature. This scale typically runs between 2000K (2000 degrees Kelvin) and 6500K4. You can find temperatures outside of this range, but they’re not commonly used in homes or offices and typically have specific applications.
The lower the Kelvin temperature of a light, the warmer the resulting color. Meanwhile, the higher end of this spectrum produces cool, daylight-like results. Generally, bulbs with a Kelvin temperature 3000K and under are considered warm, and those above 6000K are cool. Between 3000K and 6000K is the neutral light zone. Lighting designers carefully consider lumen brightness and a Kelvin temperature to build the exact atmosphere needed for a room.
Cool, bright lighting is optimal for illuminating areas where crisp detail is important. You’ll often find this combination in reading lamps and work lights. Cool or neutral light that’s a little less bright is ideal for kitchens and home offices, while warm lights are best for bedrooms and living rooms, thanks to their cozy and inviting feeling.
The ideal light level of a room is typically decided by its intended uses and overall design, and the overall amount of light needed to achieve that brightness is directly tied to the room’s size.
In most cases, the rooms in a home that require being well-lit are the bathroom, kitchen, and office. These are rooms where it’s important to be able to see details crisply and where it’s crucial for light to feel pervasive, like it’s coming from every angle. A bathroom should have 70 to 80 lumens of cool light per square foot to provide the best task lighting6.
Kitchen lights can be more neutral, but cool lighting works well. For tasks like cutting vegetables, you need 70 to 80 lumens per square foot, or 30 to 50 lumens per square foot when performing less detail-intensive tasks6. The best way to achieve this is to have multiple sets of lights in a kitchen in a mix of task and ambient lighting styles. Home offices generally follow the same rules, as it’s important to be able to adjust lighting throughout the day.
Dining rooms are most inviting when using about 30 to 40 lumens of warm or neutral light per square foot. Living rooms and bedrooms function well with only 10 to 20 lumens of light per square foot6, and warm light performs well here, as it promotes a calm and relaxed feeling. It’s also important to have additional task lighting available in these rooms for activities that require focus.
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