What incandescent bulb replaces a 150 watt incandescent?

150W incandescent → incandescent

185.7W

both put out about 2,600 lumens — the incandescent does it on 185.7 watts

Light outputthis is the number to shop by, not the watts	2,600lumens
incandescent wattage needed	185.7W
Incandescent wattage	150W
Efficacy assumedagainst 14 lm/W for a filament bulb	14lm/W
Running cost a year3 hours a day at $0.17/kWh — the incandescent costs $27.92	$34.57
Rated lifeabout 0.9 years at 3 hours a day	1,000hours

Notes

**Buy lumens, not watts.** A watt is what the bulb *consumes*; a lumen is what it *emits*. The habit of shopping by wattage only worked while every bulb was a filament burning at the same efficiency. A 150W incandescent puts out about **2,600 lumens**, and any bulb of any technology hitting that number will look the same brightness.
A incandescent reaches 2,600 lumens on about **185.7 watts** because it produces roughly 14 lumens per watt against 14 for a filament. The original filament bulb — 90% of the energy leaves as heat.
**Running cost is where the difference actually shows up.** At three hours a day and $0.17 per kWh, this bulb costs about **$34.57** a year against **$27.92** for the incandescent it replaces. Multiply by the number of sockets in the house before deciding it is a small number.
Packet equivalence claims run a little optimistic — a box marked "60W equivalent" is often 750–800 lumens rather than a clean 800. Check the Lighting Facts panel on the back, which has to print the real figure.
Brightness is only half the choice. Colour temperature decides whether the room feels warm or clinical, and it is independent of both the watts and the lumens on this page.

150W in incandescent

A 150 watt incandescent puts out about 2,600 lumens. A incandescent reaches the same light on 185.7 watts.

Buy lumens, not watts

A watt is what the bulb consumes. A lumen is what it emits.

Shopping by wattage only ever worked while every bulb was a filament burning at the same efficiency. Once LED and CFL arrived, the same watt buys four to seven times the light — so the habit now picks the wrong bulb.

2,600 lumens is the number to shop by. Any bulb of any technology hitting it looks the same brightness.

Where the difference comes from

A incandescent produces about 14 lumens per watt against 14 for a filament bulb. That ratio is the whole story, and it is printed on the box if you look for lm/W.

Running cost is where you actually notice

At three hours a day and $0.17 per kWh, this bulb costs about $34.57 a year.

Multiply by the number of sockets in the house before deciding that is a small number. A twenty-socket house is where the arithmetic stops being trivial.

Check the panel, not the front of the box

Equivalence claims on the front run a little optimistic — a box marked "150W equivalent" is often a shade under 2,600 lumens.

The Lighting Facts panel on the back has to print the real figure, and it is the only number on the packaging that is regulated.

Brightness is only half the choice

Colour temperature decides whether the room reads warm or clinical, and it is independent of everything on this page.

Nearby sizes

LED Dimmer Compatibility: The Four Checks Before You BuyCompatibility is not a mystery, it is four specifications. Check them before buying and you avoid the trial-and-error most people go through.
Why LED Lights Flicker When Dimmed — and the Fix OrderThe dimmer is usually not broken and the bulbs are usually not faulty. They were designed for each other's opposites, and there are four fixes worth trying in order.
CRI 90 vs 80: What the Ten Points Actually Cost YouTen points on a hundred-point scale sounds marginal. It is the difference between a room where the colors look right and one that feels vaguely tired.
Color Temperature Chart: Every Kelvin Value and Where It GoesThe scale runs backwards from intuition and the useful range is narrower than the chart suggests. Here is every value, what it reads as, and where it belongs.