Eco-Bulb Learning Center
Colour Temperature
Lamp color temperatures are measured in a unit called the Kelvin. Cool light produces higher contrast and is considered better for visual tasks. Office environments for example typically have cool light. Warm light is preferred because of its ability to make skin tones and clothing look better. Warm light is typically used in living areas and covers the temperature range of 2200K–3600 K. A standard incandescent bulb is typically in the 2700K-2900 K range whereas
residential halogen lights are usually 3000K-3300K. At the end of the day, color temperature is really a matter of personal preference. Some people prefer the cooler colors while others would be quite happy to live by candle light. Either way, Carbonberry has a wide selection of bulbs within each temperature range (sorry, no candles yet!).
Colour Rendering Index (CRI)
CRI is independant of the lamp colour temperature. CRI is an indicator of how well the bulb will render colors in everyday objects (e.g. a bowl of fruit). By its very nature, incandescents are considered a perfect black body radiator (no, its not a car part!) and have a CRI of 100. Most CFL's are 80-85 CRI and some LED's are starting to get into the 90's but matching the trusty old incandescent will probably never happen. So its a trade off between seeing a beautifully
rendered fruit bowl (while watching the severe storm outside) or slowing down the melting of the polar ice caps. I think the polar bears would agree that for most situations, a CRI of 82 is good enough.