Light bulbs come in a variety of styles and levels of intensity. Which type is best for each room in your home depends on a few factors. It’s ideal to learn about each of the types and how they can enhance your living space.

Incandescent

This is the original light bulb that was the first ever invented. This is the only bulb that uses wattage as a measure of brightness. This type of bulb is simple to use and inexpensive, but it can be too hot and inefficient, which is why smart bulbs aren’t offered in this option.

Halogen

Halogen bulbs have a similar appearance to incandescent bulbs. They are used for bright white light that is ideal for floodlights, accent lighting, and some professional lighting. This type isn’t used as often in residential settings and needs to be handled with care because they are especially fragile.

Fluorescent Tube Lights

Many people think of fluorescent tube light bulbs as the harsh lights that you see in schools and office buildings. However, they are great as low-cost options that are likely to last for several years. They use an inert gas that is low-pressure as well as a little vaporized mercury, so it’s important to use caution around broken fluorescent tubes. This efficient bulb was not popular in homes for a long time, but a new style of fluorescent light bulb was created for this purpose.

Compact Fluorescent Bulbs

Spaces where you might use fluorescent bulbs in a home typically would have sockets that fit incandescent bulbs. For this reason, compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) were designed. They feature the same type of tube wrapped around itself to create a bulb-like shape. This makes it so that the electrodes are next to each other and the bulb can still create a current in order to energize the gas inside of it. These bulbs can last longer than the fluorescent tubes and they save energy, though they don’t emit warm light.

Light-Emitting Diode (LED)

LED bulbs have a specific mix of silicon and other elements that give them certain properties. The silicon formulas create a simple semi-conductor (known as a diode) as electricity goes through the bulb, and different combinations of these formulas would emit different colors. Since they don’t have filaments, gases, and electrodes, they tend to last much longer than the average other varieties of light bulbs. Smart bulbs often are of the LED type.

Retrofits

You can use new bulbs in older sockets that typically were used for a different type of light bulb. There are LED bulbs that you can get with different base types so you can use them across multiple varieties of sockets. An example of this is LED tubes designed so they can be placed in fluorescent tube sockets.

Today, there are more light bulb types than ever before. Choose the variety of lights based on your specific needs. Reach out to us at Duryea Electric of the Greater Holyoke, MA area so that we can assist you with selecting the right light bulb setup and solutions for your home.