COLOR TEMPERATURE
Colour temperature refers to the colour appearance of the light that comes from a light source. It's an important performance characteristic to asses when evaluating lamps because a lamps colour temperature creates the mood of the space you are lighting and can thus influence buying behavior or work performance. Also referred to as 'Correlated Color Temperature (CCT), the apparent color of a light source is measured in Kelvin or "k".
In describing colour temperatures, a low colour temperature corresponds to "warm" or a red-yellow appearance like incandescent lamps at 2700 kelvin. Fluorescent lamps operating at 3500 kelvin give off a "neutral" white light. "Cool" light comes from sources like cool white fluorescent lamps operating at 4100 kelvin. In colour temperature, the higher the kelvin temperature, the whiter and then the bluer the light.
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COLOR RENDERING
Another key performance characteristic, colour rendering, is the ability of a light source to represent colours in objects. The relative measure of this ability is colour rendering index, or CRI which rates light sources on a scale of 0 to 100.
The higher the CRI, the more vibrant or close to natural the colours of objects appear. CRI is especially important when evaluating fluorescent and HID sources because they have a wide range of CRI's.
Light from lamps with good (70 to 80 CRI) and excellent (80+ CRI) colour rendering properties is said to be "high quality light" because objects and people look more appealing and the light level itself is perceived to be higher.
Good colour rendering is critical in settings where it is important that people appear natural, in retail applications where merchandise must look appealing, and in restaurants where food must look appetizing. In office and factory applications, high colour rendering can increase visual clarity and create a more pleasing and productive work environment.
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