If you’re considering enhancing your garden or outdoor space with outdoor lighting, this is the best guide for you. We’re here to show you why LED garden lights are the best and most cost/energy-efficient choice when illuminating your exterior.
Garden and landscape lighting can offer practical light for dark nights and additional security to discourage intruders. However, they also illuminate and enhance the beauty of your exterior and garden features such as patio and decking areas, trees and shrubs, paths and walkways. So, discover the benefits of LED garden lights, how much they cost to run and how to choose the right LED lights for different sections of your garden in this guide.
Table of contents
- Are outdoor LED lights any good?
- Do LED landscape lights use a lot of electricity?
- How to choose the right LED lights for your garden
Are outdoor LED lights any good?
In short, yes! Outdoor LED lights are 100% worth using in your garden landscaping vision. Here are the benefits of using LED light in your garden.
- LED bulbs have a much longer life than traditional bulbs. Depending on usage, they can last up to 50,000 hours compared to the 5,000 hours you used to get from halogen bulbs. You could have as much as 10 years of good use from an LED bulb before they need replacing as opposed to 1-2 years. As a result, you will spend less on replacement bulbs over time as well as improved reliability.
- LED bulbs are made using plastic rather than glass, using good-quality materials perfect for long-lasting life outdoors, including in sub-zero temperatures.
- LED lights also produce the same, if not more lumens, than traditional bulbs while using less electricity. As a result, they are far more energy-efficient, keeping your energy costs down. LED bulbs can save up to 90% on your energy bill.
- With the developments in LED technology, there are many different types of LED bulbs to choose from for increased flexibility of lighting choices when illuminating your exterior.
Do LED landscape lights use a lot of electricity?
The answer is no! LED lights are the most efficient lighting choice on the market. They also produce the most light (or lumens) using the least amount of electricity, and unlike CFLs, they work instantly, meaning you won’t have to wait for them to “warm up” to produce light.
To work out how much electricity your LED garden lights will use, you will need to know the wattage of your LED bulb. Then divide it by 1000 to find how many kilowatts it will use per hour, measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh).
For example, take the Collingwood Lighting Eyelid LED wall light. If you used 10 of these to illuminate a set of outdoor stairs and they use a maximum of 2 watts each, we can discern how much electricity they will use for 8 hours.
2 watts x 10 lights = 20 watts per hour.
20 watts x 8 hours = 160 watts a night.
You can now calculate how much electricity you will use in a year.
160 watts x 365 nights = 58,400 watts per year.
To know how much this would cost, you must find out how much your energy company charges per kilowatt hour. The average cost per kilowatt hour in the UK from 1 April 2022 to 30 June 2023 was 33.2p/kWh (pence per kilowatt hour).
58,400 / 1000 = 58.4 kWh
58.4 kWh x £0.33 = £19.27 per year.
If you divide this cost by month, this will barely scratch the surface of your electricity bill for the price of beautifully lit outdoor steps.
How to choose the right LED lights for your garden
Instead of letting your garden plunge into a black, dark space as the sun goes down, you can bring out its beauty with a cleverly designed lighting scheme. But where to begin? As lighting design experts, we can help you get started on a magnificent lighting scheme you can’t even imagine.
Garden lighting schemes are all about creating appropriate light and shadow. You don’t want millions of bright runway lights, but equally, not having enough lights will lose the overall effect and create dark spots. At Moonlight Design, we can help you curate the perfect combination of LED lighting for your garden to create a beautiful and functional space for you to enjoy for years.
Here are a few crucial areas to consider when illuminating your garden and outdoor space.
- Before buying your lights, make sure you have checked with your qualified electrician whether your scheme will be mains-powered or low-voltage. If you want a low-voltage lighting scheme, you will need remote drivers! We always recommend low voltage where possible, not only from a safety point of view but it’s more cost-effective to run.
- Think about where you want your lights. Are the lights going into the soil, grass or hard surfaces like paving slabs, driveways, or wood decking? Mounting or recessing lights into the ground will require additional and sometimes technical installation.
- Then decide what you want your lights to do! Different outdoor lights provide varying functions.
Decorative Lights – Decorative lighting enhances and highlights natural and artificial features in your garden and exterior. Use our best-selling LED spike lights to illuminate shrubs and trees to highlight the natural beauty in your garden. Or, use our IP68-rated LED pond lights in the water to create a magical glow in your garden.
Entertaining Lights – Whether you use your patio and decking for BBQing, to host casual drinks on a warm summer evening, or to sit quietly and read, you can illuminate the area to create a welcoming and cosy environment. Check out our LED patio & deck lights or wall lights and enjoy your patio or decking area way past sunset.
Functional Lights – Some garden lighting can be practical as well as beautiful. Outdoor lights can help you find your way to your doors or down a path at night. Check out our LED step, path and driveway lights to help illuminate your path and walkways. Then ask yourself, do they need to be tough enough to drive over or walk over?
Safety and Security Lights – Adding motion sensor lighting to your entranceways, garage doors or courtyard can help increase security on your property. A bright shining, sudden light can help deter intruders or animals from entering or continuing further. Browse our LED sensor-controlled lights with PIR and floodlights for your exterior.
4. Lastly, think about how you want to control your lights. Do you want to switch them on and off with a straightforward switch or a clever light symphony system to switch your lights on and off anywhere in the world?
LED garden lights at Moonlight Design
In conclusion, YES, LED garden lights are 100% worth it when landscaping your garden. You won’t regret purchasing these high-quality, energy-saving LED light fixtures when they illuminate your garden beautifully. Realise your dream lighting design with Moonlight Design today and browse our extensive range of LED outdoor lights.
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