Lifestyle

Home & Garden

Outdoors and the edges of the house.

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The Edit — Home & Garden

Light Bulbs: Lumens, Kelvin and the Number Nobody Reads

Watt equivalence is a hangover from incandescent bulbs and lumens replaced it years ago. The figure that decides whether a room looks right is colour rendering index, and it is the one most boxes leave off.

By Edith Mercer · Updated Sep 11, 2026

The Edit — Home & Garden

Grow Lights: PPFD Is the Only Honest Number

Equivalent watts is a marketing invention and lumens measure light for human eyes. Plants respond to photons, counted as PPFD, and almost no listing on the shelf prints that figure.

By Edith Mercer · Updated Sep 8, 2026

The Edit — Home & Garden

Space Heaters: Why Every One Is 1,500 Watts

A 15-amp household circuit caps a plug-in heater at 1,500 watts, and 1,500 watts converts to about 5,100 BTU whoever makes it. Every model on the shelf produces the same heat and competes on everything else.

By Edith Mercer · Updated Sep 8, 2026

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