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LED FAQ

The lighting industry and the way people use light changed forever with the introduction of the Cree® LED bulb. For the first time, the new Cree LED bulbs provide a compelling reason to switch from energy wasting incandescent to LED. The revolutionary LED bulbs demonstrate how something as simple as lighting can have a profound effect on how people live their life. The new Cree LED bulb is what everyone has been waiting for – a bulb that looks like an incandescent, lights like an incandescent, uses a fraction of the energy, lasts for years and is at a price people can afford.
Thomas Edison said, “There’s a better way to do it. Find it.” Cree took that challenge to heart with a great, simple, timeless design made possible through relentless LED innovation. Inventing the LED technology that delivers light like an incandescent was hard work, but designing a bulb in a form-factor that consumers trust at a price they can afford was even harder. Designed with Cree LED Filament Tower™ Technology, the Cree LED bulb represents a breakthrough in LED bulb design and performance. Unlike the large, dull glow produced by CFLs and other LED bulbs, the Cree LED Filament Tower creates the same nuance and visual texture as a traditional incandescent bulb by emulating the compact light source of an incandescent filament.
Until the introduction of the Cree LED bulb, consumers had few options. They could keep using incandescent bulbs that provide high quality light, but waste energy and therefore cost money every minute they are used. Or they could opt for flawed alternatives. Until today existing LED bulbs could fall into two categories; good light, but expensive – or poor light, but cheaper. In all cases, they failed the consumer. Cree solved the problem! Cree LED bulbs with the Cree Filament Tower Technology breaks the $10 price barrier, looks like a typical light bulb, but works better. Cree LED bulbs save 84 percent of the energy compared to typical incandescent bulbs, are designed to last 25 times longer and come with an industry leading 10 year limited warranty.
Cree’s mission is to obsolete energy wasting light bulbs and drive 100% adoption of LED lighting. Engaging the consumer as an ally is an important factor to realizing this mission. In our relentless efforts to innovate and improve LED lighting, we developed a breakthrough that allowed us to overcome fundamental obstacles to consumer adoption of the LED light bulb – great light quality in a simple design at an affordable price. Cree has a long and successful history of pushing the LED lighting market when it isn’t moving fast enough. The new Cree LED bulb showcases innovations across LED chips and components, optics technology, systems and overall bulb design. The result is a high quality, long lasting, affordable LED bulb that consumers can trust to replace their existing incandescent. The Cree LED bulb gives consumers a reason to switch. We believe this breakthrough LED bulb will, for the first time, motivate consumers to upgrade the billions of energy-wasting light bulbs installed in their homes.
Cree LED bulbs are available for purchase in The Home Depot stores and online at www.homedepot.com.
The Cree LED bulbs are easily dimmable with most widely available standard incandescent dimmers.
The new bulb is designed to last 25,000 hours, 25 times longer than typical incandescent bulbs (1,000 hour lifetime*) * 60-watt incandescent bulb has a typical lifetime of 1,000 hours, according to the U.S. DoE.
The Cree LED bulbs feature an industry leading 10-year limited warranty.
Cree earned ENERGY STAR® qualification for the soft white Cree LED 40-watt and 60-watt replacement bulbs.
Yes. Soft White and Warm White are interchangeable descriptors to indicate the color temperature of the light that the bulb emits. Soft/Warm White bulbs emit a light temperature of 2,700K.
Light that is emitted from the light source is measured in lumens. The higher the number, the brighter the source will be.
The Light Appearance value on the Lighting Facts label indicates the hue and temperature of the color emitted within the light spectrum in ranging from 2700 to 6500 Kelvin. "Warm" colors have lower color temperatures (2700–3500 K). Warm/Soft LEDs create an inviting, comfortable, and relaxing atmosphere, and highlight golden and red tones to add a peaceful aura to any space. "Cool" colors have higher Kelvin temperatures (3600–5500 K). Cool/Daylight LEDs create a bright, clean, and lively mood, and inspire active areas in your home with intensely vibrant streams of light.
Watts is a measurement of energy that is required to illuminate the light source. The lower the wattage, the less energy used.
Color reproduction is an important characteristic of any type of lighting, including LED lighting. Color reproduction is typically measured using the Color Rendering Index (CRI). CRI is measured on a scale up to 100. The higher the CRI, the more accurately you will see the actual colors of objects that the bulb illuminates (i.e. reds will look red). Daylight has the highest CRI (~100), with a 2700K incandescent bulb being relatively close, and fluorescent lighting being much less accurate (CRI 70-85). Certain types of specialized lighting, such as sodium lights (street lights with yellow orange colored light) exhibit a relatively low CRI (as low as about CRI 20 – 30). The Cree TW Series LED bulb has a high CRI of 93, unmatched for LED bulbs, making colors look the way they were intended.
Neodymium is a naturally occurring element (#60 on the periodic table) that is added to the glass of the Cree TW Series LED Bulb. The addition of this element gives a unique-looking blue/violet tint to the glass bulb, and augments the LED light that passes through it and greatly increases the CRI of that light.
The addition of neodymium in the glass of the bulb affects the LED light passing through the bulb to create a “spectral notch”. A spectral notch is a portion of the color spectrum where the light is attenuated thus forming a "notch" in the spectrum. By notching a portion of the yellow light, you get a higher contrast between reds and greens which brings out the true colors of what is illuminated. What remains is LED light that has a higher CRI.
Yes, The Cree TW Series LED Bulbs are the first to meet the stringent requirements set for LED Bulbs by the California Energy Commission in the Voluntary California Quality Light‐Emitting Diode (LED) Lamp Specification.
The lighting industry and the way people use light changes forever with the introduction of the Cree® LED bulb. For the first time, the new Cree LED bulbs provide a compelling reason to switch from energy wasting incandescent to LED. The revolutionary LED bulbs demonstrate how something as simple as lighting can have a profound effect on how people live their life. The new Cree LED bulb is what everyone has been waiting for – a bulb that looks like an incandescent, lights like an incandescent, uses a fraction of the energy, lasts for years and is at a price people can afford.
The new Cree LED bulbs provide consumers what they’re looking for in a light bulb: A form-factor that looks like the incandescent they’re use to A bulb that produces the warm, beautiful, omni-directional light they like An affordable price An energy savings of 84 percent compared to the incandescent bulbs they replace A 25,000 hour lifetime; 25 times longer than a typical incandescent.
Cree’s mission is to obsolete energy wasting light bulbs and drive 100% adoption of LED lighting. Engaging the consumer as an ally is an important factor to realizing this mission. In our relentless efforts to innovate and improve LED lighting, we developed a breakthrough that allowed us to overcome fundamental obstacles to consumer adoption of the LED light bulb – great light quality in a simple design at an affordable price. Cree has a long and successful history of pushing the LED lighting market when it isn’t moving fast enough. The new Cree LED bulb showcases innovations across LED chips and components, optics technology, systems and overall bulb design. The result is a high quality, long lasting, affordable LED bulb that consumers can trust to replace their existing incandescent. The Cree LED bulb gives consumers a reason to switch. We believe this breakthrough LED bulb will, for the first time, motivate consumers to upgrade the billions of energy-wasting light bulbs installed in their homes.
Cree LED bulbs are being introduced at a retail price point that gives consumers a reason to switch to LED. Those price points are $9.97 for the warm white 40-watt replacement; $12.97 for warm white 60-watt replacement; and $13.97 for day light 60-watt replacement.
The warm white 40-watt replacement uses 6 watts. The warm white 60-watt replacement uses 9.5 watts. The day light 60-watt replacement uses 9 watts.
We're excited to partner with The Home Depot®. The Cree LED bulbs are available at The Home Depot in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The Cree LED bulbs are also available online at www.homedepot.com.
Cree LED bulbs will begin arriving on store shelves and online at www.homedepot.com on March 5 and will be in all 1,976 U.S. Home Depot stores by March 21, 2013.
The Cree LED bulb produces an omni-directional light and turns on instantly to full brightness. The 40-watt replacement bulb is available in warm white (2700K) color temperature and the 60-watt replacement is available in both warm white and daylight (5000K) color temperatures to meet consumer preferences.
Color reproduction is an important characteristic of any type of lighting, including LED lighting. Color reproduction is typically measured using the Color Rendering Index (CRI). CRI is measured on a scale up to 100. The higher the CRI, the more accurately you will see the actual colors of objects that the bulb illuminates (i.e. reds will look red). Daylight has the highest CRI (~100), with a 2700K incandescent bulb being relatively close, and fluorescent lighting being much less accurate (CRI 70-85). Certain types of specialized lighting, such as sodium lights (street lights with yellow orange colored light) exhibit a relatively low CRI (as low as about CRI 20 – 30). The Cree TW Series LED bulb has a high CRI of 93, unmatched for LED bulbs, making colors look the way they were intended.
The higher the CRI of a bulb, the more accurately you will see the color of objects illuminated by its light. According to ENERGY STAR®, a bulb with a CRI of 80 is the minimum acceptable for ENERGY STAR qualification. According to this standard, anything below 80 could be considered poor CRI light. A light bulb with a CRI of 80 is a excellent general use bulb for the home.
Yes it is - but good enough for what? For general illumination it is fine. But there are certain applications where a higher CRI light might be preferred. In places where you want to accurately display the colors of fabrics, woods, food, skin, you may want a high CRI light source to see the true and natural colors.
Not exactly, not all 80 CRI bulbs are the same. LEDs produce light with a broad color spectrum, like natural light has, while CFLs have very narrow bands of color, forcing your brain to fill in the missing color gaps. Many people find this disturbing without even knowing why. Both may have a similar CRI, but in fact the CFL light is a much poorer quality of light.
Currently, the limited offerings of A19 bulbs with greater than CRI 90 is small and these bulbs offer a variety of compromises including higher price, shorter warranty, and non-optimal optical performance.
Neodymium is a naturally occurring element (#60 on the periodic table) that is added to the glass of the Cree TW Series LED Bulb. The addition of this element gives a unique-looking blue/violet tint to the glass bulb, and augments the LED light that passes through it and greatly increases the CRI of that light.
The addition of neodymium in the glass of the bulb affects the LED light passing through the bulb to create a “spectral notch”. A spectral notch is a portion of the color spectrum where the light is attenuated thus forming a "notch" in the spectrum. By notching a portion of the yellow light, you get a higher contrast between reds and greens which brings out the true colors of what is illuminated. What remains is LED light that has a higher CRI.
Yes, The Cree TW Series LED Bulbs are the first to meet the stringent requirements set for LED Bulbs by the California Energy Commission in the Voluntary California Quality Light‐Emitting Diode (LED) Lamp Specification.
Not at this time. The Cree LED bulb is currently in the qualification process for earning the ENERGY STAR qualification.
Yes. The Cree TW Series LED bulbs are easily dimmable with most widely available standard incandescent dimmers.
The Cree TW Series LED Bulb is available now online at homedepot.com/ and will be available this fall at The Home Depot stores in California.
High Lumen LED Flood

High Lumen LED Flood

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high lumen flood family

high lumen flood family

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BR30 100W kitchen

BR30 100W kitchen

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A19 Dining

A19 Dining

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A19 Soft White bulb

A19 Soft White bulb

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Cree@30 banner

Cree@30 banner

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The New 60W Soft White Connected Cree Led Bulb Packaging

The New 60W Soft White Connected Cree Led Bulb Packaging

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The New 60W Soft White Connected Cree Led Bulb Lit

The New 60W Soft White Connected Cree Led Bulb Lit

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The New 60W Soft White Connected Cree Led Bulb Unlit

The New 60W Soft White Connected Cree Led Bulb Unlit

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Cree BR30 LED Bulb

Cree BR30 LED Bulb

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BR30 Kitchen

BR30 Kitchen

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The BR30 Soft White Cree Led Bulb

The BR30 Soft White Cree Led Bulb

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The BR30 Soft White Cree Led Bulb Packaging

The BR30 Soft White Cree Led Bulb Packaging

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The BR30 Soft White Cree Led Bulb Packaging Front

The BR30 Soft White Cree Led Bulb Packaging Front

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The BR30 Soft White Cree Led Bulb Packaging Back

The BR30 Soft White Cree Led Bulb Packaging Back

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BR30 Soft White Cree Led Bulb Packaging 4 Pack

BR30 Soft White Cree Led Bulb Packaging 4 Pack

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BR30 Daylight Cree Led Bulb Packaging

BR30 Daylight Cree Led Bulb Packaging

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BR30 Daylight Cree Led Bulb Packaging Front

BR30 Daylight Cree Led Bulb Packaging Front

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BR30 Daylight Cree Led Bulb Packaging Back

BR30 Daylight Cree Led Bulb Packaging Back

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BR30 Daylight Cree Led Bulb Packaging 4 Pack

BR30 Daylight Cree Led Bulb Packaging 4 Pack

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The New 40W Daylight Packaging

The New 40W Daylight Packaging

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The New 40W Soft White Packaging

The New 40W Soft White Packaging

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The New 60W Daylight Packaging

The New 60W Daylight Packaging

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The New 60W Soft White Packaging

The New 60W Soft White Packaging

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The New LED Bulb Standing Lit

The New LED Bulb Standing Lit

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The New LED Bulb Standing Unlit with Shadow

The New LED Bulb Standing Unlit with Shadow

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The New LED Bulb Standing Lit with Glow and Shadow

The New LED Bulb Standing Lit with Glow and Shadow

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30/60/100 Watt 3-Way Soft White Packaging

30/60/100 Watt 3-Way Soft White Packaging

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100W Soft White Packaging

100W Soft White Packaging

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100W Daylight Packaging

100W Daylight Packaging

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100W Bulb Standing

100W Bulb Standing

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PAR38 90W Spot Packaging

PAR38 90W Spot Packaging

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PAR38 90W Flood Packaging

PAR38 90W Flood Packaging

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PAR38 90W Standing

PAR38 90W Standing

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75W Soft White Packaging

75W Soft White Packaging

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75W Standard Bulb

75W Standard Bulb

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75W Daylight Packaging

75W Daylight Packaging

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60W Soft White Packaging

60W Soft White Packaging

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60W Soft White Packaging

60W Soft White Packaging

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60W Daylight Packaging

60W Daylight Packaging

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TW 60W Bulb

TW 60W Bulb

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40W Soft White Packaging

40W Soft White Packaging

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40W Daylight Packaging

40W Daylight Packaging

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40W Soft White Packaging

40W Soft White Packaging

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40W and 60W Standard Bulb

40W and 60W Standard Bulb

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TW 40W Bulb

TW 40W Bulb

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Cree LED Filament Tower™

Cree LED Filament Tower™

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Standard LED Bulb in Hand

Standard LED Bulb in Hand

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Lifestyle - Family

Lifestyle - Family

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Lifestyle - Kitchen

Lifestyle - Kitchen

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Lifestyle - Table Lamp

Lifestyle - Table Lamp

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Charles (Chuck) M. Swoboda

Charles (Chuck) M. Swoboda

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Press Releases

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June 12, 2018

Cree Revitalizes Bulb Line to Provide Consumers with Exceptional Light

Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) has revamped its complete line of consumer LED bulbs, including more than 30 products ranging from A-Lamps and candelabras to reflectors and downlights. Developed with consumers preferences in mind, the upgraded line is engineered to work better and last longer, with light that delivers exceptional color quality.

September 17, 2017

Cree Delivers New Brighter LED Bulbs to Market

Cree (Nasdaq: CREE) announces the expansion of its award-winning bulb family with the launch of new high lumen directional LED bulbs designed specifically for rooms with high ceilings and for consumers who want more light. The portfolio delivers the brightest flood lights available on the market today with new BR30 100W replacements, as well as R20 75W lamps.

September 13, 2016

Cree Offers New Line of Better LED Bulbs

Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) announces a completely new portfolio of next generation LED bulbs aimed at delivering better light experiences for consumers. The new bulb portfolio consists of 25 new products, offering better light quality, better dimming, better lifetime, better warranty and better pricing to deliver on the true promise of LED technology to make lighting better than it was before.

February 23, 2016

Cree Delivers Better Light with New PAR30 LED Bulb

Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) announces the expansion of its award-winning LED bulb family with the introduction of the TW Series™ PAR30 Cree® LED Bulb, designed to deliver bright, high-quality and focused light exactly where you want it, making it the ideal choice in areas where directed or dramatic pools of light are desired. With the TW Series PAR30 Cree LED Bulb, family portraits, artwork, and decor will come to life in their truest forms beneath better light.

December 16, 2015

Cree Extends Campaign to Light A Better Way with Soccer Trailblazer Abby Wambach

Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) announces the extension of its partnership with World Champion, two-time Olympic gold medalist and highest all-time international goal scorer, Abby Wambach in concert with her retirement today. Abby and Cree have teamed up again to emphasize the importance of determination, innovation and performance – on and off the field.