LED lighting explained

While LED lighting is trendy and seemingly everywhere, many consumers don’t know much about it. How energy-efficient are LEDs? Can they save you money?

Below, we’ve written a guide to help you understand the hype behind LED bulbs and why Gantri includes one with every light.

What is LED lighting?

LED stands for light-emitting diodes. As they work, an electrical current passes through a microchip, illuminating tiny light sources to create visible light. Unlike traditional incandescent bulbs, LEDs generate little to no heat, requiring less energy and emitting more light.

The benefits of LEDs

LEDs have three major advantages over traditional incandescent bulbs:

• Cost effectiveness: LEDs are up to 10 times more efficient than incandescent bulbs. As they use 75 percent less energy, you save money.
• Longer life span: Compared to incandescent lighting, LEDs live up to 25 times longer.  A longer lifespan translates to fewer bulb changes and less waste.
• Versatility: Unique shapes, multi-color options, and a range of color temperatures make LEDs the perfect choice for all your lighting needs. This means you can replace your 40-watt incandescent bulb with an LED equivalent that provides the same color and brightness you want without consuming the same amount of energy.

Warm or cold lighting?

Color temperature is a standard measurement of a light’s appearance – generally referred to as “warm” or “cool.” While LEDs can reproduce a wide range of color temperatures, Gantri LED bulbs create a soft warm light at 2700K, ideal for the home as seen below:

Rethinking brightness

In the past, we’ve been taught to judge the brightness of light bulbs by watts. However, because LEDs are so efficient, the correlation to wattage can be confusing. We prefer lumens, the ideal measurement for brightness. While most LEDs offer up to 80 lumens per watt, standard Gantri LEDs offer 100 lumens per watt.
View the guide below to get an idea of how we measure brightness using lumens:

Seeing color with CRI

While brightness and temperature are important factors of LED bulbs themselves, we also like to measure how well a light source renders color. To do this, we use the Color Rendering Index or CRI. Under lights with high CRI, colors pop. Reds appear more red, greens appear more green, and so on.

CRI ratings range from 0-100. In general, the higher quality the LED, the higher the CRI. For reference, the noon sun has a CRI of 100 while orange-tinted streetlights have a low CRI around 25.

At Gantri, our standard LED bulb ranks at a 90 which is similar to the quality of light you might see in a modern museum.

Dimmable LED lights

Dimmable LEDs help reduce energy consumption as you decrease the flow of electricity to power the bulb. As you dim the lights, you can set the mood you want and lower your energy output at the same time.

However, LED lights need their own special electronic dimmer switch for full functional dimming. That’s why we custom-designed our Gantri switch for the best dimming experience.

Where to Use LEDs?

At Gantri, we are passionate about developing sustainable, premium lighting down to every detail. When it comes to light bulbs, we have chosen industry-leading LEDs for all our lights.

From their versatility to efficiency, LEDs are the best choice for any light type:  

• Table Lights: LEDs offer bright, clear light. The LED bulb in a Table Light like Palm Task Light can help reduce eye fatigue throughout your work day.
• Wall Lights: The long lifespan of LEDs means fewer bulb changes in those hard-to-reach places. Secure a Gio Wall Light up high for warm, diffused lighting throughout your space.
• Floor Lights: Dimmable LEDs can create mood lighting while reducing your energy consumption. Use the dimmer switch on the Carve Floor Light to create the perfect mood lighting throughout your living room.

As LED lights quickly revolutionize home lighting, we’re proud to include state of the art, LED bulbs with all our products. Better lighting, better energy, better experience.