What Are Lumens?
The lumen is a scientific measurement of how much light a source puts out. A higher lumen number makes for a brighter light bulb, and a lower lumen number results in a dimmer light bulb.
What Are Watts?
Watts are a measure of energy use, rather than the actual light level. The higher the wattage is of a light bulb, the more energy it consumes (and vice versa). Consequently, higher-wattage bulbs cost more to run. However, higher-wattage bulbs don’t necessarily put out more light than a bulb with fewer watts; brightness also depends on the technology of the bulb.
How to Convert Lumens to Watts
There is not a precise way to convert between lumens and watts because bulb technology can greatly impact brightness and efficiency. But there are some approximate average levels to go by:
40 watt incandescent bulb: 450 lumens60 watt incandescent bulb: 800 lumens75 watt incandescent bulb: 1100 lumens100 watt incandescent bulb: 1600 lumens
How to Determine a Light Bulb’s Efficiency
The wattage and the lumens, or “initial lumens,” are the two values you need to determine a light bulb’s efficiency. And they should be marked on the packaging. Once you’ve found those two numbers, simply divide the number of lumens by the number of watts. That will give you the standard measure of light bulb efficiency, which is the lumens per watts. It’s best to use the actual wattage of the bulb, not the so-called “equivalency” value. That equivalency number is just a reference to the energy requirements of a standard incandescent light bulb that would produce the same amount of light. Also, try to compare similar types of light bulbs—comparing an incandescent to a CFL or an LED light bulb can be like comparing apples to oranges. A higher number for lumens per watt means more efficiency: more light produced for less power. A lower number for lumens per watt means less efficiency: less light produced for more power. Here’s a quick example: A typical 40 watt light bulb—for instance, the GE 13257 40W incandescent light bulb—uses 40 watts of electricity to produce 490 lumens. The efficiency of that light bulb is 12.75 lumens per watt. A 40 watt-equivalent GE spiral CFL light bulb uses 10 watts of electricity to put out 580 lumens, so the energy efficiency of that light bulb is 58 lumens per watt. That’s more than 4.5 times as efficient as the GE incandescent light bulb. Pretty impressive. A typical 40 watt-equivalent LED light bulb—for instance, the Cree Standard 40W Replacement LED—uses just 6 watts of electricity to produce 450 lumens. That’s nearly 75 lumens per watt. That’s almost a 33 percent efficiency increase over the efficiency of the spiral CFL from GE. And it’s nearly six times as efficient as the GE incandescent light bulb it’s replacing.
Why Lumens Per Watt Matters
The more efficient a light bulb is, the more energy it saves. That helps to cut down on the amount of energy that has to be produced, so it helps to reduce greenhouse emissions and slow the warming of our atmosphere. It also reduces the amount of energy you use, which means that your monthly electric bill will be less. It may not make a significant reduction in cost relative to your total bill, but every decrease helps to make a difference. If you wanted to, you could install six 40 watt-equivalent LED light bulbs in place of each 40-watt incandescent bulb you replace and get nearly six times as much light for the same money. Or you could replace the bulbs one for one and save more than 80 percent of the money you were spending to power your lights.
