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There are three colour temperatures available in LED bulbs, warm white, cool white and pure white. The warm white has a higher red content to the light, while the cool white tends more toward the blue end of the colour spectrum. The different colours are often referred to as a colour temperature with warm white around 3000K, cool white at 5000k and daylight or natural white at around 6000k.
A bit of background can help you understand why the colour temperatures are used and which light is best for you to use in your home. Daylight is the light that is emitted from the sun, which burns at incredibly hot, estimated to be 5900 Kelvin. (Geek note: Kelvin is another way of measuring temperature equal to degrees Celsius plus 273). Because a light bulb cannot burn at the temperature of the sun the light from a bulb will always look different to the light from the sun. Halogen bulbs burn very hot and can achieve temperatures of 3000K at the filament. This is the closest we can currently get to natural daylight. Traditional incandescent bulbs burn at a lower temperature between 2000 – 2500K. Hence we are used to seeing light in the range of 2000K to 3000K which is known as warm white.
Fluorescent lights and LED lights operate at significantly lower temperatures than bulbs using a filament. The maximum temperature an LED bulb can burn at is 418K (145 degrees C) before the chip begins to melt. Likewise fluorescent bulbs generate very little heat. The colour of the light emitted at this temperature is very different to that of natural daylight, and has a high degree of red in the light. To get a more natural light, filters or fluorescent substances are used that alter the light so that it looks more like sun light. The different colours of light are classified by the closest temperature that is required to generate the colour of the light that is being emitted by the bulb.
Because colour is manipulated a wide variety of colour temperatures can be achieved with LED bulbs. Typically warm white is in the range 2700K – 3000K, while cool white is in the range 4500K – 5000K. Some manufacturers create daylight or natural white with a colour temperature in the range 5700K – 6500K.
If you are replacing traditional halogen or incandescent bulbs, then the best colour to replace them with is the warm white bulbs. These are the closest in colour to what you are used to seeing when you turn on a light and you will notice the least difference.
When viewed side by side cool white bulbs tend to look brighter than warm white bulbs. Cool white also make contrasts more visible. Some people recommend their use in task areas, such as laundries or bathrooms, however our recommendation is to use warm white bulbs as the change to these bulbs from traditional incandescent bulbs is far less noticeable.
