Just the Facts

By Holly Peterson

Do you ever feel like you're learning another language, when trying to understand all the "energy efficient" lighting terms???
Not to worry... Thanks to the Department of Energy, anyone can "get with it"!


The Department of Energy (DOE) is taking a page from the Food and Drug Administration's playbook. Since 1994, most food products have featured the Nutrition Facts label, and the DOE is pushing for the lighting industry to follow that lead for LED products. The label (below) is part of the DOE's SSL Quality Advocates program and is meant to encourage manufacturers to simplify information about LED products for consumers. Using the industry-standard IESNA LM-79-2008 to measure product performance, the label displays the metrics in an easily digested and consistent format. Lumens, efficacy, watts, correlated color temperature, and color rendering index are all shown.