I live in florida and even with the ac on you do anything to keep a room cool and i hated turning the lights because of the heat they would throw off with these i can turn on my lamp and not worry about room shooting up ten degrees in temp

As for the brightness they are very bright i would almost say brighter than a standard 40w bulb but that may just be me

This was my first foray into led bulbs and i did it because i was tired of spending money replacing bulbs every month