The most energy-efficient and evolving type of lighting technology available today is LED, or light-emitting diode. LED bulbs last longer and are more resilient than traditional lighting sources, Due to the popularity of LED light bulbs, buyers can now choose from many varieties. We’ve assembled the most comprehensive guide to LED light bulbs. We outline the considerations that builders or homeowners should consider while purchasing LED products. This guide also offers advice on selecting products for various spaces in a residential setting.
What Motivates the Switch to LED?
LED lights last a lot longer and don’t contain mercury like CFLs (or compact fluorescent lights). LED lights also offer a variety of choices for brightness and can save a lot of electricity. You can save by buying LED lighting because they are considerably more energy efficient than CFL options. Additionally, LEDs are available in shapes other than the classic light bulb. Due to their small size and variety of designs, LED lighting allows for a limitless number of applications in the house.
The Three Important Concepts
When purchasing light bulbs, all you need to consider are the bulb’s form, wattage, and screw base size. With CFLs, consumers now have a choice of light appearances. The appearances include soft white, brilliant white, and daylight.
Three ideas are crucial to comprehend when using LEDs.
- Brightness
- color accuracy
- Light appearances
You want to be sure you purchase the appropriate product for the job, because LED items remain more costly, but they will have a longer lifespan.
Light Appearance
Kelvin is a unit of measurement for light’s color or color temperature. The Kelvin number can tell you if a light source produces warm or colder light. The light will seem warmer at higher ranges and look much more blue and chilly as the number decreases to lower ranges. The color temperature of a typical incandescent bulb ranges from 2700K to 3000K.
While people criticize CFL bulbs for having a colder, more clinical tone than incandescent lamps, they may be blaming the wrong thing. They opted for a chilly, high-Kelvin color tone rather than a warmer one for their project. You can eliminate this problem with a good color choice.
Color Accuracy
Have you noticed not all lights color your landscape in the same way? The capacity of various light sources to depict an object’s color varies. The Color Rendering Index, abbreviated CRI, is a measure of color rendering. Scale values range from 0 to 100.With today’s LED technology, a CRI value above 80 is good and will be enough for most applications. The higher color output of 90 or higher may fit specific circumstances.
Brightness
We measure a lighting product’s brightness in lumens. While wattage and brightness for incandescent bulbs had a clear connection, this is not the case with LED products. It isn’t easy to compare the brightness of an ordinary and an LED bulb solely on watts. The reason is LEDs use a lot less electricity. Lumens are the only consideration when evaluating an LED light’s brightness.
Selection of the Appropriate Light for Various Lighting Purposes and Spaces in Your House
The Purposes of Light
Ambient, task, accent, and decorative lighting are the standard categories for lighting. Each group serves a distinct function. Understanding how these light levels work in harmony with one another is helpful when designing the lighting for a home.
Ambient Lighting
For general vision and movement, ambient lighting distributes a consistent quantity of light across space. Common examples of ambient lighting are chandelier fixtures, cove lighting, and downlights. To create a nice ambiance, you should use warm white lighting fixtures for living rooms and bedrooms. These warm white lights blend well with wooden furniture and earthy colors.
Select the same color temperature for each to achieve an even synchronous impact. The temperature of your lighting is only applicable if you have installed many types of ambient lighting. Lights with Kelvin values in the 3500–4000K range are considered neutral white. Emphasize lighter hues more than warm white lights.
Additionally, neutral and cold white light energizes users. This feature makes it a fantastic option for workspaces and study spaces.
Accent Lighting
Generating a distinction in brightness will help you to bring attention to items. These are items like pieces of art, architectural details, or flora. You can use track lighting, surface mounts, wall grazing, and wall washing to accomplish this.
Task Lighting
Task lighting refers to offering lighting in a space where you perform an activity, such as a reading lamp or makeup mirror. The manufacturers designed it to draw attention to a particular spot.
Also, task lighting adds to the ambient light and raises its intensity when doing a visual job. The light should provide a decent contrast. This contrast is possible with neutral to cold white light in the 3500K to 5000K range. In addition to color temperature, task lighting relies on color rendering index and brightness.
While a CRI of 80 or higher for ambient lighting is adequate, a CRI of 90 or higher for task lighting is preferred.
Dimming
Ambient and task lighting both benefit from dimming. It allows us to adjust the brightness to the perfect level to create the optimum ambiance in a space. Additionally, dimming saves energy. Not all LED fixtures are dimmable, unlike a typical bright bulb. It is critical to
check the packaging and make sure you can dim the lighting.
Installation
LED usage does not require you to rewire a home. All the typical wiring used in homes is suitable for use with LEDs. A transformer already connected to many LED lighting allows you to plug them into a regular electrical socket. Some LED goods, like LED strip lights, need an outside power source. There are two variations of these—one that requires an outlet connection and one that uses an AC cord attachment.
Any project that needs electrical connections to line voltage is to be carried out by a certified electrician. Please read the product label carefully; it will say whether or not a power supply is needed.
How to Select High-Quality Goods
Although many LED products are available, the manufacturers have not made them the same way. Look for the UL (Underwriters Laboratory) or ETL (Electrical Testing Laboratories) designation on the item or packaging. Doing this helps confirm that an impartial laboratory evaluates the product and its use is safe. The guarantee should last at least three to five years. Despite the extended period of time LED lights can burn, save your receipts as proof of purchase. Doing this will help in case the item fails before its expected lifespan.
Conclusion
Manufacturers are constantly improving LED technology, and users are using the lights in new ways. Due to this revised lighting for landscaping purposes, there has been a significant shift towards using LEDs as a lighting source. Due to the design of LEDs, these bulbs have an advantage over the competition because they are more effective, resilient, adaptable, and long-lasting. When buying new lights for a space, it would be prudent if you give priority to longer lifetimes and efficiency. Not sure which lighting to choose for your landscape? Let Cortada Landscape Design help you with your lighting choices today.