What does power have to do with light bulbs?

accelerate23

power= work/time

Also:
Why are certain wattages of light bulbs brighter than others?

russ_watters

Light is radiated power; Power is not just a mechanical thing.

haruspex

Take the old incandescent bulbs. The electricity does work to heat the filament, causing it to radiate energy as light. That would cool it down again, so more electricity has to be used all the time to keep it hot. The rate of using electrical energy is power.

Lsos

Light is a form of energy (work). The more light you want, the more/ faster electrical energy you have to convert into light energy.

NascentOxygen

More power enables you to heat a tungsten filament of greater dimension (in length or thickness)---to the same glowing temperature---so with more radiating surface, you have more light. More light = greater brightness.

QuantumPion

Or heat the same size filament to a higher temperature, thus creating a larger portion of the radiated light in the visible spectrum (e.g. halogen bulbs).