In technical specifications for lighting and light fittings you will often see the term "colour temperature" - but what is this? and how does it tell you what is the correct lighting that you need for your application? This article answers those questions.
The colour temperature is a measure of the colour appearance of a light source ranging from 'warm' light (e.g. - low and high pressure sodium lamps) through to 'cool' light (from metal halide lamps).
The colour temperature is measured in Kelvin (K) - lamps below 3300K are classed as 'warm' whilst those above 5300K are 'cold'
Choosing a lamp with the right colour qualities is important in business applications where product identification or colour matching is important, for example distribution warehouses or
The diagram on the right illustrates this in more detail:
