60 Watt Light Bulbs

60 Watt Light Bulbs

In order to provide adequate lighting inside your home, it's important to choose light bulbs that are bright enough to get the job done. For many years, 60 watt light bulbs have been a go-to for most households, though recent trends in lighting have changed the way that electricity is measured and consumed. Here at Walgreens, we have a wide assortment of 60 watt light bulbs (including energy-efficient bulbs with equivalent outputs) so that you can always keep your rooms illuminated.

What Is Wattage?

Like many terms that are used to describe complex topics, many people have no idea what the wattage of a light bulb actually represents. A watt is a measurement of how many joules (basic units of energy) are consumed per second when an appliance is in use.

While wattage is still accurate when you are using traditional incandescent light bulbs, the vast majority of bulbs you'll find today have been adapted to be more energy efficient. As a result, these bulbs don't actually consume 60 watts of electricity to operate--instead, they are listed as being equivalent to traditional 60 watt light bulbs.

The U.S. Department of Energy is trying to steer consumers away from using wattage to determine lighting needs and prefers a unit of measure known as lumens instead. A lumen represents the amount of light given off by a bulb rather than the energy it consumes, and a typical 60 watt or equivalent bulb releases about 800 lumens.

Types of 60 Watt Light Bulbs

To comply with laws regulating energy consumption, traditional incandescent light bulbs have started to go out of vogue and are gradually being replaced by newer, more energy-efficient varieties.

• Halogen bulbs burn slightly brighter and last a little longer than incandescent bulbs because they contain halogen gas.
• Compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) are another popular type because they last up to 10 times as long as incandescent lights while only consuming about one-third of the wattage.
• LED bulbs are the newest, most energy-efficient light bulbs. They last even longer than CFLs and use very little energy.

When you are shopping for CFL or LED bulbs, you will need to choose a 60-watt equivalent because these materials don't actually use that amount of electricity.