These days, a browse through Alcon Lighting's website (alconlighting.com) or even the lighting aisle at Home Depot is likely to leave you baffled. Here are the terms you need to know. LUMENS: The amount of light a bulb produces. Depending on which government agency you ask, this is “brightness” or “light output.” Your reference point: A standard 100-watt incandescent produces about 1,700 lumens. WATTS: Not a measure of brightness; instead, it’s a measure of how much energy a bulb consumes to reach its claimed brightness. WATT EQUIVALENT: Since we’ve conflated watts and brightness,...


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Some of you have heard or read that incandescent light bulbs are going away - this being true - you need to consider new option for replacing them. First, here is some background on this light bulb transition: In 2007, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Independence & Security Act (EISA) into law. The provisions in this law are intended to reduce the energy usage & greenhouse gas emissions and enable the US to be less dependent on foreign sources of energy. One of the provisions provides for the phasing out of todays energy-hogging incandescent light bulbs (40W - 100W). This...


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What is LED? And what makes it so great? A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor light source. A diode is a two-terminal electronic component that conducts electric current in only one direction. LEDs produce 10X more light per watt than incandescent bulbs. Their efficiency is not affected by shape and size unlike Fluorescent light bulbs or tubes. LEDs can have a relatively long productive life. Reports estimate 35,000 to 50,000 hours of useful life, though time to complete failure may be longer. Also, LEDs being solid state components are difficult to damage with external shock, unlike...


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Source efficiency is based on the amount of light produced by a lamp at room temperature. It is distinct from system efficiency that refers to the amount of usable light delivered to the target area. There are several causes why raw lumens produced by a light source are far higher than the actual light delivered on a surface. Losses due to trapped light - Trapped light and reflection inefficiency are the first source of lower light output from traditional lamps.  As long as LEDs had not entered the scene all bulbs produced lights in a 360 degree sphere and the comparison was easy. LEDs changed...


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