{"id":336,"date":"2026-01-06T08:40:27","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T08:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.lyco.co.uk\/blog\/?p=336"},"modified":"2026-03-13T16:13:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T16:13:28","slug":"what-are-daylight-bulbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lyco.co.uk\/blog\/what-are-daylight-bulbs\/","title":{"rendered":"What are daylight bulbs?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Posted on 15 March 2017<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author: Charles Barnett<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last updated on 29 March 2022<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

In an ideal world, we\u2019d all live and work in places that offered the perfect natural light for whatever we needed to do, when we needed to do it. However, we don\u2019t all get to sit next to wall-sized picture windows, or have the luxury of only working in daylight. And let\u2019s face it, the British weather usually leaves something to be desired. This is where\u00a0daylight bulbs<\/a>\u00a0can help as they provide a similar level of lighting to natural daylight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

View our full range of Daylight bulbs ><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Match your lighting needs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Different people need different things from their lighting, particularly in an office or study environment. Visually-based workers such as designers, architects, clothes makers and illustrators need lighting as close to natural light as possible, while anyone who deals with a lot of paperwork or fine print needs bright, clear lighting. Interestingly, in the retail sector, different types of lights are used in ways you may not expect \u2013 supermarkets use special\u00a0fluorescent tubes<\/a>\u00a0in their meat counter fridges to bring out the red of the meat, and make it look extra tasty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SAD lighting<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Another important factor to bear in mind is that some people suffer from\u00a0Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD),<\/a>\u00a0and even those that don\u2019t can be affected by a lack of natural light over a longer term. This doesn\u2019t just apply during the long, gloomy winter months, but is also a factor in offices with no or little natural light. Luckily, all of these things can be addressed with full spectrum or daylight bulbs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

View our full range of SAD bulbs ><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daylight bulbs or Full Spectrum what\u2019s the difference?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are actually differences between\u00a0full spectrum<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0daylight bulbs,<\/a>\u00a0so it\u2019s important to get the right sort to fit your needs, as not every bulb fills every role. The light given off by a bulb is described by two measurements, the first of which is colour temperature, measured in Kelvin (K) \u2013 also used for measuring the brightness of distant stars. The yellowy orange of a classic tungsten bulb would be in the 2700K (warm white) range, with the light becoming colder and whiter, up to around 6500K for a cold blue light. The second measurement is Colour Rendering Index (CRI), which measures a light source\u2019s ability to render colours faithfully, and is shown as a percentage. Again, higher is better, with the best possible rendition at a CRI of around 96%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

View our full range of Daylight bulbs ><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what does this mean for you?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Well, bulbs and tubes basically fall into two categories \u2013 daylight and full spectrum (though the latter can occasionally be referred to as daylight as well). If price is a concern, and you just need the appearance of daylight \u2013 for brightening up a reception or communal area, for example, or for an airy-feeling office \u2013 a standard daylight bulb is fine. These tend to offer a colour temperature of 6000-6500K, and a CRI of about 80%. There are many different types of daylight bulb, from\u00a0fluorescent tubes<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0LED Bulbs<\/a>\u00a0and even classic incandescent daylight bulbs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If, however, you need perfect colour rendition for design or other visual tasks, you\u2019re lighting a windowless room, or SAD is a factor, then full spectrum tubes are the best option. Full spectrum lights offer a colour temperature of 6500K and a CRI of 96%, offering a light as close to natural daylight as it\u2019s possible to get. If you are equipping a design studio, workshop or basement, full spectrum is simply the best way to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What lighting have you got now?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Finally, if you\u2019re not sure what type of lighting you have in your existing room, there\u2019s a quick and easy way to check. On the bulb or tube, you\u2019ll find a 3-digit number, i.e. \u2018835\u2019. This is the first digit of the CRI, plus the first two digits of the colour temperature. So the bulb in this example has 80% colour rendition, and a temperature of 3500K, while a full spectrum bulb might read \u2018965\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why not take a look at our full range of\u00a0Daylight Bulbs<\/a>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking for more information \/ inspiration? Check out our\u00a0Lighting Advice<\/a>\u00a0section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Posted on 15 March 2017 Author: Charles Barnett Last updated on 29 March 2022 In an ideal world, we\u2019d all live and work in places that offered the perfect natural light for whatever we needed to do, when we needed to do it. However, we don\u2019t all get to sit next to wall-sized picture windows, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sin-categoria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lyco.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lyco.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lyco.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lyco.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lyco.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lyco.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":689,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lyco.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336\/revisions\/689"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lyco.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lyco.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lyco.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lyco.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}