Best Light Bulbs For Your Home Office in 2022
Choosing the right lightbulbs for your home office can make a big difference in the overall comfort of your workspace. Preventing eyestrain and making sure that you can see what you’re doing whether you are typing on a computer or creating items by hand is important. There are many different kinds of lightbulbs on the market these days and it can be overwhelming to decide which lightbulb style is the best for your needs.
Thankfully, different lightbulbs have different benefits and you’ll have an easier time choosing between the various options on the market once you know more about what each type of lightbulb can do for you. If you are ready to learn some more about the best lightbulbs for your home office in 2022, you need to keep reading!
Why Choosing the Right Light Bulbs For Your Home Office is Important
Proper lighting offers benefits beyond being able to see clearly when you are working at your desk. The color of the light that cast by the bulbs can impact your mood, help you to stay awake, and prevent eyestrain from looking at your computer all day long. Your home office is one of the places where you will spend the most time each day. It should be a comfortable space that helps you to feel productive and effective.
Protecting your eyes from strain, helping to boost your mood, and lighting your workspace can be easy if you have the right lightbulbs in your office. This is one of the most overlooked ergonomic issues in home offices and correcting this issue can lead to a much better day every time you sit down to work in your home office.
The Best Type of Light Bulbs for Your Home Office
There are many types of lightbulbs that you can select from for your home office needs. You might be aware of some of them, but not everyone knows that there are so many choices. Each has its pros and cons, so you will want to read on to learn some more about the kinds of lighting that you can choose from for this need.
Fluorescent
Fluorescent lights are really common in business spaces in office buildings. These lights provide a practical solution for bright lighting that is durable and does not require replacement bulbs very often.
The trouble with this kind of lighting is that it is very bright and very harsh and it can actually make people get headaches or experience eyestrain. There are many office solutions that are used to block the fluorescent lighting in office spaces due to the harsh nature of its glaring light. The hum of the bulbs can also give people headaches or cause frustration.
This is the least likely solution to make sense for your home office space since the light cast by these light fixtures will likely cause issues with glare on your computer monitors in a small space. This lighting style is also not really effective in smaller home offices due to the size of the container and tubes that hold the lights.
Fluorescent lighting might make sense if you work in an industrial setting, but not for a normal home office.
Incandescent
This is the lightbulb that has been around the longest and it is often the cheapest solution for your home office lighting needs. You will get adequate light from this style of bulb in some situations, but it isn’t the brightest light and the lifespan of each bulb is not as long as other lighting solutions. This is a cheap solution but it is not necessarily an ideal one for office space use.
These bulbs also emit heat, which can make a small office hotter than you might like. This is also not always the safest lighting solution for situations where flammable items might come into contact with your lightbulbs. Incandescent bulbs also emit a slightly yellow light, which is not as ideal for work on the computer or with delicate tasks that require attention to detail.
Incandescent bulbs are a common choice for home office use, but they are not typically the ideal solution for your home office comfort.
LED
By far the most energy-efficient choice that you could make, LED lights are affordable, bright without being uncomfortable for your eyes, and very energy efficient. They also save money because they last for so many years. You can keep down your electric bill, provide bright light that won’t give you a headache while you’re working and avoid the heat and glare that can be caused by other kinds of lighting.
As an added benefit, LED lights are also a great choice if you want to have access to controlling the color temperature of your lights. If you want access to slightly softer light or you are looking for a more yellow light for your home office space, you can get LED bulbs that offer these choices as well as RGB (colored) lights.
CFL
CFL lighting is one of the oldest lighting styles that you might have experienced and it is common in older buildings with cafeteria or gym spaces that needed effective lighting for a low cost. These are fluorescent bulbs and they do come in a wide range of color temperatures. They can also be affordable but they do cause headaches and they often flicker.
CFL lighting is not an ideal lighting source for any modern workspace and this lighting style has mostly fallen out of favor for office use of any kind.
Halogen
Halogen lights are often track-style lights. You might have seen them in a gallery setting casting light on the pictures and other art displays. These are cylindrical or conically-shaped bulbs that are filled with gas that emits light when combined with electricity. The gas makes for a long-lasting lightbulb but these are very bad for the environment when they are disposed of.
The UK has recently banned these lights and this might be something that is done in the U.S. as well.
Choosing the Right Color Temperature of Light Bulbs for Your Home Office
Color temperature is the appearance and apparent brightness of a light source. Color temperature can impact the relative brightness of a light which can be connected to eyestrain in office settings. Color temperatures are indicated in degrees of Kelvin on a scale from 1,000 to 10,000. These are the standard light temperature options that you can pick from for office lighting:
Warm White
Warm white lighting is 2700-3300K (the K stands for Kelvin) lighting that is warm in nature and more yellow. This light offers a cozy feeling and is commonly used in living rooms and bedrooms. It is not as bright and it can sometimes make people feel sleepy. Yellow light is more familiar to most of us as this was the only lighting option used in homes and businesses for many years. The color of this lighting is not as ideal for your productivity, however, and it can lead to mid-afternoon tiredness as well as eyestrain and discomfort.
Bright/Daylight White
This is 4200-5500K lighting which is often considered the most ideal for home office use. This is a clear and crisp light that is much more white in nature than warm white lighting. This light is the least likely to make your eyes hurt or to lead to squinting while you are working. This is also a light tone that has been shown to help increase wakefulness and to ward off mid-afternoon sleepiness.
If you work in a space that is naturally dark and does not get a lot of daylight, this can be the perfect solution to brighten up your workspace and make your hours there much more comfortable and productive.
Cool White
This light offers 5500-10,000K and it is not recommended for home office use or extended use. This is a blue light that can harm your eyes over time. Blue light blocking glasses are often needed for those exposed to this light color for long periods of time. Cool white lighting can be the right choice for some people, but this is the kind of light that alters sleep patterns and can lead to headaches and eyestrain for some people. Make sure that you consider this kind of lighting carefully before committing to this choice, particularly in a small home office.
No matter which light style you are drawn to, make sure that you change all the lights in your office to the same style bulb. Competing light types can lead to conflicting light in the room which can hurt your eyes when you are working.
At the end of the day, you will need to pick the color temperature that makes you feel like you can work effectively without eyestrain and discomfort all day long.
Dimmable vs Non-Dimmable
Sometimes being able to dim the lighting in your office can help with headaches and eyestrain. You will need to upgrade your light switches to allow for this function and not every lightbulb can be dimmed. Make sure that you look at the lightbulbs that you are selecting to make sure they are made to be dimmable. Not all LED lights are dimmable, so this is a product that will require careful inspection of the packaging and information related to the bulbs if dimming is something you want to be able to do.
Dimming the lights can help you to control the brightness in your home office if you have a lot of sun during the day but might want more light at night. You might also be able to help yourself work in comfort if you tend to get headaches by using your dimmable lights to control the brightness in your home office space.
Colored and Color-Changing Light Bulbs for Your Home Office
Some people like colorful lighting to help change the mood of their working space. Colors are associated with moods, and people will tend to respond to different color tones in the lights in a workspace with different emotions. If you want to have colored bulbs in your light fixtures in your home office, there are LEDs sold in colors besides varying degrees of white. Make sure that you understand that the different colors of these lights might negatively impact glare and other obstacles to comfortable viewing of your computer screens.
Smart Light Bulbs for Your Home Office
Many homes these days are built with smart home technology and home office spaces that are in newer homes might already have access to the benefits of these designs. You can also convert your older home to use more smart technology to save energy and reduce your power use every month. There are so many ways to make your home office more comfortable and effective for your needs.
Solutions that are growing more common are smart apps that allow you to change the lighting in your office with the use of an app. It is also easier than ever to replace old-style incandescent bulbs with LED lighting that will be more energy-efficient and save you money each month.
When building a smart office, you will want to be sure that you pick LED lights that are made for this kind of functionality. If you are not sure if your home office can be converted to work with smart home technology, EPB Energy ProsSM can answer all of your energy-related questions. Our skilled technicians know all about smart home technology, including the use of smart home LED bulbs in your home office.
If you are ready to make the jump to a more efficient and effective home office, EPB can help! Our skilled Energy Pros can make sure that you are deploying the right home office solutions to make your workspace comfortable, productive, and energy-efficient every day.
