Lighting And Light Globes: Everything You Need to Know

Lighting and Light Globes: Everything You Need to Know

The right light globe comes down to three things: how it’s made, how bright it needs to be, and where you’re using it. As a Electrx, we’re a Preferred Electrician for Beacon Lighting, so we spend a lot of time helping Melbourne homeowners and businesses work through exactly this.

We’ve fitted out lighting in cafes, restaurants and new home builds right across Melbourne’s west, from Brooklyn through to Werribee and Point Cook, plus older weatherboard and double-brick homes in suburbs like Yarraville and Newport that are still running fittings from a different era.

Lighting is not just about lighting up a room. There’s a fair bit of science behind good lighting selection, and the right lights will set the mood of a room and let you actually use the space for what it’s meant for. Read more about aesthetic and functional lighting.

When it comes to lighting, there are three main types of light globes in everyday use.

This section covers the different types of light globes, how they work, and what they mean for your lighting.

Incandescent Bulbs

These are the old-fashioned, “typical” light bulbs a lot of us grew up with. They’re not very energy-efficient: most of the energy they use goes out as heat rather than light. They’re inefficient and don’t last long, and halogen globes fall under this same umbrella. In 2009 the Australian Government started to phase out these globes.

You’ll mostly only find them now in specialty fittings, such as heat lamps or retro-style fixtures that modern globes don’t fit. Even the antique-look globes you see on the market today use modern lighting technology under the hood.

CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lights)

CFL light globes use compact fluorescent lamps as their illumination source.

These are the globes that look like a spiral. They can be bulky in a light fitting and look a bit unattractive if left as a naked bulb.

They were popular for a while because they use relatively little energy and give off little heat, which made them a reasonable option where you wanted to keep energy use down.

The downsides of CFLs

They take a little time to warm up before they reach full brightness.

If one breaks, it needs special clean-up steps, since CFLs contain mercury, a hazardous product. They also need to be disposed of properly once you’re replacing them.

CFLs have largely been overtaken by more energy-efficient LED options in recent years, but they’re still a cheaper option for some households.

LED (Light Emitting Diodes)

LED light globes use LEDs as their source of illumination. They’re the standard now because they give consistent, high-quality light regardless of the setting.

LED bulbs typically run for tens of thousands of hours, well beyond what a CFL or a standard incandescent bulb will manage, which is why they’ve become the default choice for most homes and businesses we work with.

 

Because LEDs don’t throw off heat the way incandescent bulbs do, they can be used in spots where older lighting technology just wasn’t suitable.

LED lights now turn up in almost every lighting configuration you can think of, from floodlights (the MCG’s lighting towers run on LEDs) through to fashion accessories like jewellery and costumes. If you’ve had an LED start acting up rather than just needing a straight swap, we’ve covered some of the common causes in why an LED light suddenly goes dim.

Lumens, Candela & Lux Explained

When you’re buying a light bulb, do you actually know how much light you need?

You might get asked about watts, lumens, lux and candela.

What Are Lumens

Lumens measure the total amount of light that comes from a light bulb.

Lighting strength or brightness is now measured in lumens.

Back when incandescent bulbs were the standard, watts (or wattage) told you roughly how much light a bulb would put out: the higher the wattage, the brighter the light. But watts is really an energy measurement, showing how much power the globe used to create that light, not how bright it actually was. Modern lighting is low energy, so wattage on its own doesn’t tell you much anymore.

Some LED lights use the term “equivalent wattage” to give you a rough sense of brightness against an old-style bulb. The real measurement to look for is lumens: the higher the lumens, the brighter the light.

What is Lux?

Lux is also known as illumination.

It’s the measurement of how much light lands on a surface area of one square metre from a given distance.

For example, a light placed two metres above a work table may make it harder to see what you’re doing than a light one metre above the same table. In that case you’d need a light with more illumination, or you’d need to lower it so the area is properly lit.

In commercial settings, lux is an important measurement, because many tasks need a set amount of illumination to be performed to a standard, or for safety reasons.

As medical and dental electricians, we work with some of the highest lux requirements around. Read more about the requirements for dentists and medical clinics.

What Is Candela

Candela measures the intensity of light coming from a particular direction. It’s the intensity of light in a particular direction and angle, measuring the volume and power of that light.

The word is linked to candlelight, and is roughly equal to the amount of light given off by a single wax candle.

But how is a candlelight measurement relevant today?

Candela comes into play when you’re working with feature lighting or spotlights.

A globe on its own emits light equally in all directions. Put a mirror behind one side of the globe and angle it to direct that light onto a feature, and now you’ve got a beam that’s concentrated and aimed at a specific point.

Lighting Bottom Line

Once you understand the basics of lighting, from types of bulbs through to lumens and candela, it’s a lot easier to narrow your choices and find the right fixtures for your home.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to lighting a home, but keeping these basics in mind will help you land on the right fit for your space.

Whether you’re after something energy efficient, long-lasting or simply stylish, there’s a fitting out there that suits.

So go ahead and transform your space with light

As lighting electricians, we help Melbourne homeowners and businesses work out what lighting suits their home or business, weighing up everything we’ve covered above. If you’re planning something larger, like a commercial fit-out, our commercial lighting page covers what’s involved.

As a Beacon Lighting preferred electrician, we can help source your fittings and get you access to trade pricing.

Get in touch with our team today.