What Color is Temperature?

GUEST POST
By TAMCO North America Marketing Manager Eluid Arbelo

Have you ever wondered why your favorite restaurant uses warmer lights to set the mood? The answer is that lighting color temperature, or CCT (Correlated Color Temperature), has an inherent affect on how we feel in a room.

Depending on the color temperature of the lighting, the room can make you feel alert and energized or relaxed and warm. But what is color tempurature? Color temperature is a reference to the warmth (reds) and coolness (blues) of a light source.

Color temperature is referred to in Kelvin after the British physicist William Kelvin. In the late 1800s he heated a block of carbon and discovered that as it heated up, it went through the color spectrum of deep red, to yellow, through to whitish blue and eventually deep blue. Because we commonly associate red with warmth and blue with cold, light sources with more reds and yellows are actually lower on the Kelvin scale than the sources with bluish lights even though they are referred to as warmer.

Higher color temperatures (4600K or more) are called daylight colors which appear blue-white. Typically used in outdoor settings for safety and night lighting. This color tempurature closely mimics daylight to allow us to see and feel safe when traveling in dark spaces.

Mid-range color temperatures (3100K–4600K) look cool white. This color tempurature make us feel alert and energized, which is why most offices and workspaces are lighted using this range of color tempurature.

Lower color temperatures (up to 3000K) are called warm white colors and range from red to yellowish-white in tone. This range is best for spaces like your living room, bedroom or even that new restaurant you’ve been meaning to try. The warmer color tempurature tones make us feel relaxed.

Choosing the right lighting can improve the way we feel in a space. We hope this bit of knowledge will help you think about lighting in a different way.