Calculate the Light Needed for Any Space (2024)

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Please note that these are estimations. For exact analysis, please consult a lighting design professional.

Helpful Lighting Terms

Lumen

Lumen output is a measurement of the total quantity of visible light emitted by a light source. It’s also commonly known as brightness or light output.

The reference point: A standard 100-watt incandescent light bulb produces about 1,500-1,700 lumens. Strictly speaking, 600 LED lumens provides the same amount of light as 600 incandescent lumens.

LED lights provide higher Color Rendering Index (CRI), so, while they more accurately reveal the colors of the subject being lighted, they don’t provide more light.

Wattage

Wattage is a measure of how much electricity (or energy) a light bulb consumes to achieve its lumen output.

Each type of light source — LED, fluorescent, halogen or incandescent bulbs — has a different lumen-to-watt ratio. If a 100-watt incandescent light produces 1,500 lumens, and a 10-watt LED light does the same, the 10-watt LED bulb may claim 100-watt equivalency and energy efficiency.

Here’s a lumen-to-watt chart. Please note that these ratios may vary slightly, even between different LED products.

Foot-candle

Foot-candle is the original measurement system for light intensity on a one-square-foot surface from a uniform source of light. In other words, a foot-candle is the light measured one foot away from a candle.

Considering the human-centric principles of lighting design, the IES (the largest society of professional lighting designers) provides a footcandle chart on how many foot-candles of light humans need to perform tasks comfortably in different spaces.

For example, for washing dishes, they recommend that your lighting provides 20 foot-candles of light at two feet, six inches off the floor. This is also referred to as the horizontal target.

The Lumen Method – How to Calculate Total Lumens Needed

1. Determine room size by square footage. Multiply the length times the width of the room to get the room square footage. For example, if the room is 10 feet wide and 10 feet long, the room’s square footage will be 100 square feet.
2. Establish the footcandle requirement for your application. Lighting requirements vary depending on the type of room being lit, also known as the application. For example, a bathroom or kitchen will require more footcandles than a living room or bedroom. Once you establish the intended use of your space, browse this footcandle chart for the IES-recommended footcandle requirement for your application.
3. Multiply the room square footage by the footcandle requirement. For example, a 100-square-foot living room that needs 20 foot-candles will need 2,000 lumens, and a 100-square-foot dining room that needs 40 foot-candles will require 4,000 lumens.

We’ve created a helpful guide to How Many Lumens You Need that walks you through this calculation in more detail.

Commercial Lighting Footcandle Requirements

Residential Lighting Footcandle Requirements

Summary: Calculating Total Lumens Needed for a Room

Let’s recap how to gauge how much light you need for a space. Multiply your room square footage by the footcandle requirement. For example, a 100-square foot living room, which needs 20 foot candles, will need 2,000 lumens. A 100-square foot dining room, which needs 40 foot-candles, will need 4,000 lumens.

Download Free IES Footcandle Recommendations by Application Index »

Ceiling Height Variable

Note: Only read this section if your ceiling height is taller than 10ft. If your ceiling height is below 10ft, our lumens calculator will be sufficient for determining the required light output for your application.

The target light level for this Variable Ceiling Height Lumens Chart is 20 footcandles, with light-colored walls with a 0.90 reflectance value (for medium-dark walls, please double the required lumens). With these constraints, the chart below will provide the approximate total lumens you need for your space; divide the total lumens by the number of light fixtures you plan to use.

These calculations use 65-degree beam spread downlights, downlights with tighter beam spread require more lumens. For illumination targets different than 20 fc, multiply your required lumens by the percentage of the difference. Using a dimmer is also a helpful way to adjust the light level of your room.

Wall Color Variable

The color and darkness of walls, ceiling and furniture absorb a significant amount of light. As mentioned, having medium-dark walls and ceilings should multiply your required total lumens by 2, and very dark surfaces should multiply your total lumens by 4.

Lumens to Candlepower Conversion

Candlepower is a unit of measurement for luminous intensity. It expresses levels of light intensity relative to the light emitted by a candle of specific size and constituents.

The historical candlepower is equal to 1.02 candelas. In modern usage, candlepower is sometimes used as a synonym for candela. A fixture that emits one candela of light will produce approximately one lumen of light if the fixture uses a beam spread of 65 degrees.

Accounting for Personal Taste

Personal preference will play a large rolein determining how much light you need in a space. If you like the room to be especially bright, you may want to add an additional 10-20% to our numbers and then install dimmers to adjust the light to desired levels.

When lighting is properly designed in a space, you notice the room and the objects in it. In other words, you notice what the lighting illuminates, not the lighting products themselves. Bad or deficient lighting design shows up as hot spots, dark spots and unintentional shadows.

Good or efficient lighting design accounts for total general and task lighting required for a space. Dynamic or superior lighting design factors the qualitative, human experience. It lights for vertical (not merely horizontal) visual impressions, such as walls — as well as ceilings with uplighting to minimize shadows and dark spots for smooth, streamlined and evenly distributed light.