Solar, halogen or LED lights: which is for you?

Comparing all the advantages and limitations of the various types of outdoor lighting is tricky. Depending on your particular situation, any given benefit may or may not outweigh the limitations. Fortunately, with Outdoor Lighting Perspectives, you don’t have to make the decision alone. One of our lighting designers will help you decide what’s best for your home.

For most residential installations, standard line lighting (incandescent) can be immediately ruled out. The installation requires comparatively extensive excavation. Not only is the excavation cost prohibitive, it can damage tree and shrub roots wreaking havoc on your landscaping. Standard line lighting could be a viable option on a new build–but even then, your other options are likely more advantageous.

Solar lighting is usually easy to rule out as well. The photovoltaic cells used in solar outdoor lights are simply not powerful enough to provide any substantial light intensity or duration. (You need HUGE panels – usually roof-mounted – to produce substantial electricity.) And the evidence doesn’t suggest any suitable advances in solar outdoor lighting will come anytime soon. Solar options are recommended only when there is no other source of electricity and/or you only need a soft glow to act as a marker, rather than provide any meaningful illumination.

Low-voltage outdoor lighting most often means halogen lights (though other light sources are sometimes incorporated when a color shift is desired). Low-voltage halogen lighting is almost always an excellent choice:

• Low voltage offers safety benefits over line voltage.
• Low-voltage lights can be installed affordably.
• Well-designed low-voltage systems will almost always use substantially less energy than standard line voltage.
• The halogen bulbs offer an attractive light that portrays surroundings in their true colors.
• Halogen bulbs offer the brightness and directional capabilities needed.
• Halogen bulbs provide a relatively long bulb life.

Only very recently have technological advances made LEDs suitable for outdoor lighting applications (and there are still many inferior, older-technology fixtures on the market). However, the new advanced fixtures make LEDs a very attractive option for those willing to make the additional investment. (Unfortunately, LEDs are very high in price, though it may be possible to recoup the additional cost in energy savings over 5 to 12 years.)

• LEDs’ low voltage offers safety benefits over line voltage.
• LEDs’ installation costs are affordable (though, fixture costs are high).
• LEDs consume only a fourth of the energy of other options.
• The new LEDs offer an attractive light that portrays surroundings in their true colors.
• The new LEDs offer the brightness and directional capabilities needed.
• The new LEDs are projected to have extremely long bulb life (easily over a decade of normal use).

It’s important to note that while there is every reason to believe today’s advanced LED lights will last 10+ years under normal use, they haven’t been around long enough to prove this. Fortunately, the advanced LED fixtures Outdoor Lighting Perspectives use offer a unique, patent-pending advance: the LED’s electronics are separated from the LED. This should reduce heat and further increase "bulb" life. It also allows LED "bulbs" to be swapped out without the need to change the entire fixture. (Most other fixtures on the market have an integral LED, requiring replacement of the entire fixture rather than just the "bulb.")