- 1). Assess your lighting fixtures to see what types of bulbs they take. This will determine the range of your options. For screw-in bulbs, CFLs will work; for tube fixtures common in workshops and garages, you will need tube fluorescent bulbs, which present different color options.
- 2). Decide what you want from the lighting depending on the location. For a workplace, you want maximum lumens and clarity. For a living room, you can sacrifice the amount of light to get warmer, more pleasing colors. Remember that CFLs generate about four times as much light per watt as an incandescent bulb, so a 15-watt CFL puts out about as much light as a 60-watt incandescent.
- 3). Select bulbs for tube fixtures. Tube fluorescent bulbs are generally available in cool white (around 4,000 degrees K), which throws an almost greenish tinge; warm white (around 2,700 degrees K), which is more orange-like but not as pleasant as an incandescent; and daylight bulbs (around 6,500 degrees Kelvin), which are blue. The cool white and daylight throw a clean, clear light but are not too homey. You can add warm white bulbs to the mix to make it a bit more pleasant.
- 4). Select your bulbs for screw-in fixtures. Because CFLs are made to emulate incandescent light, more pleasing options prevail. Natural or daylight bulbs emit light at around 3,500 degrees Kelvin and are good for reading; we sense them as being a bit brighter. Their light can be a bit icier. Soft white is closer to an incandescent (at around 2,700 degrees Kelvin) and warmer.
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