Lightbulb Survival Guide

Bulbs and sockets

If you need a bulb now and are heading to your local store, we offer discounts up to 75% on a wide variety of energy-efficient LED lighting at many local retailers. Before you head out, check out our lightbulb guide. This bulb survival guide will ensure you get the right bulb for the right lighting need.

First, remember to take the bulb you’re replacing with you. You might think you can remember the size and shape of bulbs, but when you’re in front of a long, long display, all those sockets and bulbs start to look very similar.

Where is the bulb going?

Selecting the right bulb is all about where that bulb is going and what you want it to do. This is all about bulb temperature. Bulb temperature is measured on the Kelvin scale. Kelvin is similar to Fahrenheit and Celsius.

More lumens for fewer watts

New bulbs use significantly less energy. So now when you buy bulbs look for lumens not watts. Watts are no longer a reliable way to gauge the right level of brightness. More lumens mean it's a brighter light; fewer lumens mean it's a dimmer light.

Different types of bulbs can produce the same amount of lumens but each one uses a different amount of watts. Less watts means bigger savings.