Light is measured in two ways. Radiometry measures the energy impinging on a sensor, and photometry attempts to qualitatively measure light to represent how a human observer experiences light. Radiometry is important when physical metrics must be preserved, such as in simulation tasks, and photometry is important in subjective tasks, such as selecting lights to illuminate a street.
Radiometric units measure the physical properties of light, independent of human perception. These units are based on the total energy or power of light across all wavelengths.
To better understand how these radiometric units are related, imagine a conceptual "cube" where each axis represents a dimension of measurement integration: