Cree LED Revolution Blog

Cree and LED lighting are starting a revolution

Posts Tagged ‘packaging’

Here’s why the new Lighting Facts label is important for consumers

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

It’s official. New “Lighting Facts” labels are coming to U.S. light bulb packaging in mid-2011. Watt’s up with that? (Sorry, couldn’t resist). Well, the new labels mandated by the Federal Trade Commission mean many consumers may finally start to put “Watts” in the right context.

The Lighting Facts labels will emphasize lumens as a measure of light output instead of Watts. A graphic on the front of bulb packages will display how many lumens a bulb delivers. The back of the package will have additional information on Wattage, color temperature, etc. This change to the packaging will push people to understand that Watts measure energy consumed and lumens measure light output.

This is important because as more energy efficient lighting options (such as LEDs) are sold at the store, consumers can no longer judge the brightness of a bulb based on Watts.

Here's a look at the new labels approved by the FTC.

Here's a look at the new labels approved by the FTC.

Back when incandescent lights were the only thing on the market, you could pretty much judge what type of light output you would get based on the Wattage (even though, it’s not the right way to measure the type of light you’ll be getting). It was safe to assume that the higher a bulb’s Wattage, the brighter it would be.

But now that energy-efficient lights such as CFLs and LEDs are taking up shelf space, many consumers must be weaned off their old shopping habits and become familiar with lumens as a measure of light output.

For example, the average 40W incandescent bulb has a light output of about 500 lumens. But a CFL that puts out 500 lumens might only consume 10 Watts. And an LED light that produces 500 lumens can consume even fewer Watts.

Other features of the new labels include:

  • Wattage: You’ll still be able to see how much energy your light consumes
  • Estimated yearly energy cost: That way if you’re spending more on the up-front cost of an energy-efficient bulb you’ll be able to gauge estimated savings to see the true value.
  • Life based on three hours of usage a day: Since Cree LED lights are designed to last 50,000 hours, their life expectancy would be more than 45 YEARS if used for only three hours a day.
  • Light Appearance: There’s a scale measuring the light from warm to cool, including the specific color temperature.  No more guessing whether soft white means warm or cool or somewhere in between.
  • Mercury Alert: Bulbs that contain mercury (ah hem: CFLs and other fluorescents) will be required to disclose that on the package, and include a link to the Environmental Protection Agency’s site that details how to clean up a broken mercury-laden bulb.

lightingfactsmercury

The new labels are exciting because they’re really setting the stage for the LED Lighting Revolution.

“The new labels that focus on brightness in lumens will help consumers make purchasing decisions as they transition to more energy-efficient types of bulbs,” according to the FTC press release.

Do you think the new label will do a better job of educating consumers on light output v. energy consumption? Or will the new labels just confuse shoppers?

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Posted in Energy Efficiency | 6 Comments »

Will new labels for light bulbs make it easier to select lights?

Monday, December 14th, 2009

Have you ever stood in the lighting aisle at the store and picked out a bulb based on the wattage, only to come home, screw it in and see that it was way brighter (or dimmer) than you expected? It’s an easy mistake to make, especially when you’re buying energy-efficient lighting.

The Federal Trade Commission is proposing new labels for light bulbs that are based on light output instead of energy consumption, a move that could make it easier for consumers to pick out the bulbs they need.

Under the proposed change, the front of a bulb’s package would list the brightness in lumens and the estimated energy cost per year. Flip the package over, and you would find a “lighting facts” label that includes details on life expectancy, color appearance (warm to cool) and energy use in watts, under the proposal. The labels would also require acknowledging whether bulbs have mercury (CFLs contain mercury, but LEDs don’t). Take a look at the proposed changes here:

proposed change

Those of us who grew up with incandescent bulbs knew that an average 75 Watt bulb was going to be about twice as bright as a 40 Watt bulb, even though light output is measured by lumens and not watts. But since energy-efficient lights like CFLs and LEDs produce more light while using less energy, you can’t really judge their brightness based on their wattage.

To get a fair comparison on brightness, you really need to look at lumens and not watts. Consider this: This month Cree announced that we were able to achieve 186 lumens per Watt for a white power LED. That’s pretty remarkable when you consider the average 25 Watt bulb produces 215 lumens.

Now, it’s important to note that we’re not currently putting that 186 lumen per Watt LED in a light bulb. But our business is basically built on the premise that it’s possible to produce bright light while saving energy.

But back to the bulbs…as traditional incandescent bulbs are phased out, it will become increasingly important to make sure consumers understand how the new energy-efficient lighting they’re buying will perform. That’s also why I blog about issues like this. The more you know about LED lighting, the better!

And for those who think LED lights will never be viable, definitely take a look at the full report the FTC made on the proposed label changes. Among the many bright spots for LEDs in the report is this:  “The Commission believes that labeling for LED bulbs is likely to assist consumers in their purchasing decisions because they are substitutes for incandescent and CFLs and are likely to become increasingly available for household use.”

Coincidentally, one of our Twitter followers recently asked us why bulbs aren’t measured in lumens v. Watts:

TWEEP QUESTION

Well, @Chris_Gammell, we hope this post helps answer your question! If you need more details, check out this post by Jim Brodrick, who oversees Solid State Lighting for the Department of Energy, about the proposed change.

What do you think about the FTC proposal to change the way labels look? Do you think this will make buying a light bulb easier?

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Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »