When you think of lighting, what color do you see? Light is light right? Well, not exactly. If you look closely, natural light streaming from a window looks very differently than the light coming from ambient light coming from a lamp. And even the light bulbs you use can vary depending on whether you are using LED, CFL, or incandescent light bulbs. For instance, incandescent gives off that warm glow that we all are accustomed to, while LED light bulbs appears blueish.

Now, I am sure you are wondering, why does the color of light even matter? Why not just use whatever the store carries and be done with it? Well, to lighting designers, the color of lighting is becoming more and more of an debate about aesthetics. And now with as technology has gotten more sophisticated designers not only want the light to produce natural colors, but now also want to use energy efficient options. And energy efficient options don’t always give off the most attractive light. What’s a designer to do?

Because designers are starting to become frustrated with color rendering, there are numerous studies being done to develop new ways to qualify lighting performance. If you are interested in learning more about light rendering, Jeff Robins with Architectural Lighting has a great article about this debate.

What is your preferred light bulb?