In 2011, the US Federal Trade Commission made it a requirement to measure LED lights by Lumens because they deemed it more important to dictate how bright the bulb was, rather than power output. Even though this runs counter to our cultural understanding of a ’60 Watt Bulb’, it’s a good change. The importance of Lumens as a unit of measurement in LED lights allows us all to have earnest comparisons when specifying LED Lighting.

The difference between Watts and Lumens:

· A watt is the standard unit of power, the expended energy – the input to a luminaire.

· A lumen is the standard unit of light emitted by a device, the luminous flux – the output from a luminaire.

With this information in mind, it’s important to note that in today’s landscape of LED Lighting, LED driver chips and the LEDs themselves vary greatly in how efficiently they convert electricity (watts) to light (lumens). This is because of differences in light quality, product lifetime, color, and dimmability.

Lamp and Luminaire Efficacy

One of the best known advantages is energy efficiency – which can translate into considerable cost savings over time. However, as mentioned above, when it comes to LED Lighting, there are various factors to take into account when calculating that metric. This is because the energy efficiency of any lighting system depends on more than just the efficiency of the light source itself.

In the case of LED lighting and technology, these extra factors include:

· Color Quality

· Lifetime

· Color Stability

· Light Output and Distribution

· Dimmability

In addition to these considerations, LED products are also made up of a combination of technical components – each with their own efficacy. This nuanced industry knowledge must be leveraged when looking at each of the following as well:

· Individual Chips

· LED Luminaire

· LED Driver