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Are flood lights incandescent or fluorescent? What you need to know about the different light spectr



If you have outdoor lighting that is left on for a long time, using LEDs or CFLs in these fixtures can save a lot of energy. LEDs and CFLs are available as flood lights, and have been tested to withstand the rain and snow so they can be used in exposed fixtures. For high quality products with the greatest savings, look for ENERGY STAR-qualified fixtures that are designed for outdoor use and come with features like automatic daylight shut-off and motion sensors.




Are flood lights incandescent or fluorescent Why are they so bright



Light emitting diodes (LEDs) are a type of solid-state lighting -- semiconductors that convert electricity into light. Although once known mainly for indicator and traffic lights, LEDs in white light, general illumination applications are today's most energy-efficient and rapidly-developing lighting technology. LEDs use up to 90% less energy and last up to 25 times longer than traditional incandescent bulbs.


LED technology is available in many lighting product types including replacements for 40W, 60W, 75W, and 100W traditional incandescent bulbs, reflector bulbs used in recessed fixtures, and track lights, task lighting, undercabinet lighting, and outdoor area lights. LEDs come in a variety of colors, and some bulbs can be tuned to different colors or different hues of white light. Some are dimmable or offer convenient features such as daylight and motion sensors. LEDs work well indoors and outdoors because of their durability and performance in cold environments. Look for LED products such as pathway lights, step lights, and porch lights for outdoor use. You can also find solar-powered LED outdoor lighting.


The cost of LED light bulbs has decreased dramatically since they entered the market and prices are expected to come down further as more products become available. While LEDs are more expensive than traditional incandescent bulbs, they still save money because they last a long time and have very low energy use.


LED bulbs use more than 75% less energy than incandescent lighting. At low power levels, the difference is even larger. Bright LED flood lamps use only 11 to 12 watts while creating a light output comparable to a 50-watt incandescent bulb.


A lumen is a measurement of light. If LEDs, CFLs, and incandescents all have the same lumens, they have equal brightness. You can find lumens listed on lightbulb packaging. For the most efficient light, find the lumen output you want (the bigger, the brighter) and choose the bulb with the lowest wattage. LEDs will probably win in every case.


Incandescent Warm Light Bulbs: These traditional bulbs provide a warmer light that produces less UV rays than bright white bulbs. They are usually the cheapest bulbs to buy, but they are not energy efficient, so they can cost a little more in the long term.


While much of our focus is on safely recycling mercury-containing lighting, we also recycle large quantities of halogen lights and incandescent light bulbs. In fact, we can safely recycle all your lighting waste.


Background: Title III, Part B of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA) established the Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products Other than Automobiles. Amendments to EPCA in the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) directed DOE to evaluate energy conservation standards for "general service lamps", which are defined in EPCA to include general service incandescent lamps (GSILs), compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), general service light-emitting diode (LED) lamps and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) lamps, and any other lamps that DOE determines are used to satisfy lighting applications traditionally served by general service incandescent lamps.


When shopping for bulbs, you're probably accustomed to looking for watts as an indication of how bright the bulb will be. That's because with incandescents, the wattage is a reliable indicator of how much light the bulb will emit: The greater the bulb's wattage, the greater that tungsten filament inside will glow. The brightness of LEDs, however, is determined a little differently.


Contrary to common belief, wattage isn't an indication of brightness, but a measurement of how much energy the bulb draws. For incandescents, there is an accepted correlation between the watts drawn and the brightness produced, but for LEDs, watts aren't a great predictor of how bright the bulb will be. That's because LEDs are designed to be as efficient as possible without compromising the quality of the light -- and some LEDs are better at the job than others.


For example, an LED bulb with comparable brightness to a 60-watt incandescent will typically only draw 8 to 12 watts. Imagine you see two LEDs sitting on the shelf at the store, each of them branded as a 60-watt replacement. One draws 8 watts, the other draws 12 watts. It is absolutely possible that the 8-watt bulb will be brighter than the 12-watt bulb, which is why you should essentially ignore the wattage when you're looking for brightness from your LED bulbs.


Fortunately, there's a better way to talk about brightness, and that's the lumen. The lumen (lm) is the real measurement of brightness provided by a lightbulb, and it's the number you should look for when shopping for LEDs. For reference, here's a chart that shows the watt-lumen conversion for incandescents and LEDs.


As you can see in the chart above, an incandescent can draw up to five times as many watts for the same number of lumens. Get a sense of the brightness (in lumens) you need before heading to the store, and throw away your affinity for watts.


Soft white and warm white will produce a yellow, candle-like glow, close to incandescents, while bulbs labeled as bright white or daylight will produce a whiter light, closer to daylight and similar to what you see in offices and retail stores.


Most of the existing dimmers in homes today were likely designed to work with incandescents. Dimmers like those work by cutting off the amount of electricity sent to the bulb in rapid-fire succession, faster than the eye can detect. LEDs draw a lot less energy, so they don't always work well with dimmers like that. (Here's a handy guide that goes a little deeper into the reasons why.)


The first thing to do if you're buying LEDs that you want to use with a dimmer switch is to make sure that you buy bulbs that are, in fact, dimmable. Most manufacturers offer nondimmable LED bulbs with no onboard dimming hardware whatsoever, and while those are fine if you want to save a buck or two on a bulb intended for a nondimmable fixture, they're the last thing you want if you like the lights dimmed down low.


One last point: If dimming is truly important in your home, then you should really consider smart bulbs. Most use their own, built-in mechanisms to handle dimming, so you don't need a dimmer switch at all. Dimming mechanisms like those are great because they won't flicker or buzz, and you'll usually be able to sync things up with a voice assistant like Siri or Alexa, which opens the door to commands like, "set the lights to 20%."


You probably know that LED bulbs run a lot cooler than their incandescent cousins, but that doesn't mean they don't produce heat. LED bulbs do get hot, but the heat is pulled away by a heat sink in the base of the bulb. From there, the heat dissipates into the air and the LED bulb stays cool, helping to keep its promise of a long life.


That's why it's fine to stick with incandescent, fluorescent and halogen bulbs for enclosed fixtures. LEDs will work, too, but in some cases, the heat buildup inside the fixture will reduce the bulb's lifespan.


Non-compliant fixtures are those that do not shield glare from adjacent streets or properties. To bring a light into compliance, owners need to, at a minimum, replace visible bulbs with one not exceeding 900 lumens (equivalent to a 60-watt incandescent bulb or 15-watt compact fluorescent bulb). Spot lights and flood lights must be aimed so that they don't shine across property lines. The lumen rating is commonly shown on the bulb packaging in conjunction with the wattage rating.


Incandescents are known for their warm light, which looks particularly good against skin tones, Rey-Barreau said. On the other hand, fluorescent lights have gained a reputation for casting a harsh, bluish light.


"Today, you can have fluorescents that match incandescents exactly," he said. Light bulb manufacturers are required to include on their label the color temperature of their bulbs, so consumers can know exactly what they're purchasing.


LED light bulbs can save you money not only because they are roughly 80 percent more energy efficient than other bulbs, they also produce far less heat than metal halides, CFLs, and incandescent light bulbs. Upgrading to LED lighting means you won't spend your summer months cooling down rooms that your light bulbs are busy heating up. While originally a cooler blue tone than incandescent bulbs, LEDs now come in daylight and warm white color temperatures so you can more easily replace your existing bulbs without altering the color of your room. Visit our Lighting Guide to see what difference color temperature makes. LED lighting also offers a superior color rendering index (CRI), so you can see the colors of your artwork or makeup more accurately.


There are four different types of light bulbs available for residential use: incandescent, halogen, fluorescent, and LED. These varieties have different characteristics including the quality of light emitted, the amount of energy used, and more.


When incandescent light bulbs were the uncontested standard, wattage was used to approximate brightness. More watts meant more light. But with so many options for light bulbs using different amounts of electricity to produce the same amount of light, watts are no longer a useful measure of brightness.


Again, different types of light bulbs, such as LEDs may achieve higher lumen figures with fewer watts. Thus, if you want a bulb that is about as bright as a standard 100W incandescent, just look for any model that puts out about 1600 lumens, regardless of the wattage. 2ff7e9595c


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