Installing Lighting: Considering the Quality of Light

Compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) have become popular because for environmental reasons – but take into consideration how CFLs can change your environment.

In particular, quality of your interior lighting can have an influence on the quality of the environment where you live and work.

Despite their popularity, the quality of the light cast by CFLs has been a major complaint with office lighting. CFLs tend to emit a bluish light that makes the space feel dour and chilly. For that reason, CFLs are not the top choice for bedrooms and other spaces where a warmer, intimate light is needed.

CFLs and Spectrum

CFLs emit a spectrum of light that is limited – unlike the sunlight or light released by incandescent lamps.  This comes from visible light emitted by the phosphor coating on the inside of the tube. This coating (which is made of transition metal compounds or rare earth compounds) emits visible light.

Light quality is measured by two methods: Color Temperature and Coloring Rendering Index.

Color Temperature

A measure of how warm or cool the light appears is as follows: Warmer colors will have yellowish tinge, while colder colors are tinged with blue.

The Coloring Rendering Index

A measure of how realistic colors look when they are lit by a lamp will be: Sunlight will have an index of 100% because it shows the entire range of colors. A CRI of 80% or higher is fine for everyday use.
The Kelvin scale is used to measure color temperatures; most CLF bulb packaging will have this measurement on the boxes. For warmer color look for 2700–3000K; the bright white light has 3500–4100K and 5000–6500K is bluer and most like daylight.

LED lighting is the flexible solution for office and commercial spaces that have unique interior lighting needs.

Some commercial light installation ideas:

• For dimmer, warmer spaces that require warm shades in sconces,  use LED light fixtures.
• For commercial spaces such as restaurants with wide windows, use LED fixtures that change according to the time of the day – giving a sunny boost to the daylight at noon and then a warm glow at night.