Landscape lighting improves the curb appeal and overall exterior aesthetic of a home. It illuminates the property at night to emphasize its architectural elements and improve security.
There are many options for home landscape lighting. All types of outdoor lighting efficiently brighten up your property at night while giving more practical benefits to your home. However, due to its notable advantages, LED home lighting is the top choice for most homeowners and designers.
That said, here are 12 reasons to choose LED home landscape lighting:
1. Weather-Resistant
Outdoor lighting is exposed to changing weather conditions. In some cases, even some lightbulbs intended for outdoor use may get damaged during the winter. However, LED lights withstand harsh conditions better than incandescent and fluorescent bulbs.
The resilience of landscape LED lights highly depends on their protective layer. Most LED light bulbs are coveredWeather-Resistant with polycarbonate plastic, a highly-durable material widely used in home construction. Like glass, it enables unobstructed light transmission, but it’s far more durable.
Waterproof LED light strips are the best type of lighting for outdoor use. They can withstand severe snow, rain, or heat, making them ideal for hot and cold regions. If you’re residing in Oregon, you may check out Oregon Outdoor Lighting and other lighting design and installation services within your area.
2. Lower Energy Costs
LED lights maximize their function with low energy consumption. By installing LED lights in your home landscape, you can save up to 90% of the total energy cost throughout its lifespan. Despite consuming less electricity, it gives the same function and brightness.
There are LED home landscape lighting options that run on solar energy. These are ideal in regions getting enough sunlight all year. In most cases, landscape lighting installation may cost more due to electrical wiring. You may choose LED garden lamps with small individual solar panels and batteries as a solution. This way, you don’t have to worry about the lights adding to your electric bills.
On the other hand, switching to LED lights for outdoor lighting is already a considerable energy and money saver. They’re also a good investment for your property as these can increase your home’s value.
3. Highly Durable And Impact-Resistant
Most lightbulbs are too fragile. For locations prone to storms and hurricanes, incandescent and fluorescent bulbs aren’t ideal for outdoor use. Instead, it’s best to choose landscape lighting that’s highly durable and impact-resistant.
Simple LED lightbulbs are made with aluminum and polycarbonate. These materials are highly durable, resisting possible impacts during storms. If you’re doing the installation yourself, you don’t have to worry about breaking the bulb when accidentally dropped on a hard surface. Instead, it’ll only bounce and roll with only a minor scratch.
4. Lasts Longer Than Other Bulbs
Incandescent bulbs are tested to last up to 1000 hours. On the other hand, most LED bulbs can last up to 100,000 hours. LED lights are typically replaced after 20 years under optimum conditions.
Installing high-quality LED lights is the best choice if you’re looking to save on electric bills and total landscape lighting costs. Plus, most LED light design and installation companies offer years of warranty.
Choosing LED lights for outdoor and indoor lighting is economical. Although the design and installation may have a higher upfront cost, you can reap its benefits immediately.
5. Easy To Integrate With Home Exterior Design
LED lights provide the most flexible options in designing home exterior and landscape. They’re easy to customize to enhance your property’s outdoor elements with the right level of brightness and vibrance.
LED light strips are easy to shape and manipulate to fit any home exterior and landscape. They can be installed on roof eaves, around the windows, on pathways, and along with the planters. Professional installers may also add a waterproof cover that diffuses the light, perfect for outdoor cove lighting.
Installing LED lights in your garden and landscape is also one way to keep your home beautiful and eye-catching at night. The outdoor lighting improves your property’s overall ambiance and curb appeal, making it stand out in the neighborhood.
6. Comes In Various Types
LED lights come in different types, designs, shapes, and voltages. These offer various choices in terms of function, suitable for home landscape lighting.
LED light strips are most common in outdoor and indoor ambient lighting. Since they come in strips, it’s easy to bend and cut them when necessary. They’re ideal for placing them on the bottom edges of stair runs, garden pathways, and box planters for safety and aesthetic purposes.
Another common type is an LED tube light, which comes in various sizes. From the outside, it may look slightly similar to fluorescent tube light. However, it doesn’t contain mercury vapor. Instead, it uses an LED light strip. The polycarbonate tube protects the LED strips, which makes this light tube waterproof and ideal for outdoor use.
Moreover, nano LED bulbs are also popular as outdoor space decorations. These tiny bulbs consume the least amount of energy while illuminating the area. Batteries can power them, so there’s no need to plug them in.
7. Wide Range Of Color Choices
Outdoor LED lights aren’t limited to plain and warm white colors. They come in a wide range of color choices that allows a huge room for your imagination and creativity.
One of the most popular ambient lighting is RGB LED light strips. They provide options for changing your landscape’s colors. For instance, you may turn them into a color that matches a special occasion or holiday. You can change this feature through an app or by remote control.
For simple landscape lighting, warm white LED lights are ideal. The warmth gives your home exterior a cozy and inviting ambiance without being too striking. They’re simple, elegant, and practical.
8. Enables Dimming And Color Switching
Installing LED lights enables centralized access to the brightness level and color switching. You can change the setting through a standard light switch with a knob, remote control, or smartphone app. Most smart homes use LED lighting indoors and outdoors due to its easy customization.
Other bulbs, like incandescent and fluorescent, only have one level of brightness. When they start to dim, it means they’re deteriorating. On the other hand, LED lights are dimmable with just one tap.
The natural light outdoors can change depending on the season and weather. In this case, there are nights when you need less artificial lighting when the moon is showing up. You may set the lighting to maximum brightness on dark winter nights to warm up the landscape.
9. Allows Directional Lighting
Most lightbulbs are multidirectional, spreading light by 360 degrees. This type of lighting might work if total brightness is what you’re looking for. However, LED lights are ideal for focusing light in a single direction.
LED lights are unidirectional, which means the light spreads only in one direction. It gives focused and concentrated lighting to an area you want to illuminate. This is an efficient advantage for creating ambient landscape lighting, emphasizing specific outdoor elements instead of outshining them.
Since LED lights are unidirectional, diffusing them using a polycarbonate sheet, film, or any semi-opaque material helps spread light in other directions. There are also omnidirectional LED bulbs that you can use as an alternative to traditional lightbulbs.
10. Eco-Friendly And Sustainable
LED lights are eco-friendly and sustainable. As you enjoy their enefits in your home, you’re also helping the environment breathe.
Aside from consuming the least amount of energy, LED lights are made with completely recyclable materials. They don’t contain toxic substances. like lead and mercury, common in other lightbulbs. They’re safe for at-home use and are environmentally friendly.
Switching to LED lights for your home landscape lighting is also an effective way to reduce your carbon footprint. LED lights waste only 5% heat energy while concentrating 95% on their primary function–Illuminating spaces.
Furthermore, LED lights’ longer life span reduces the amount of waste from frequent lightbulb replacement.
11. Zero UV Light Emission
LED lights don’t emit UV rays, unlike incandescent bulbs. Although the typical home lightbulbs only emit a small amount of UV radiation, they can still harm the eyes during extended use.
For a safer home, you may switch to LED lights. Your garden and landscape are home to some microorganisms. To keep your outdoor space alive, avoiding lights that emit UV radiation is imperative. In moderation, UV rays are helpful for plants. However, they’re already getting enough during the day, so it’s best not to expose them to excessive amounts during nighttime.
12. Lessens Fire Hazard
Lightbulbs that emit too much heat energy can contribute to fire hazards. For example, incandescent bulbs release 90% of their energy as heat, which is inefficient and harmful. In contrast, LED light only emits 5% heat energy, which is more efficient and safer for home use.
Switching to LED lights for outdoor use is essential for lowering the fire risk, especially in regions with hot climates. Fire can start when the dried leaves and branches in your garden are exposed to heat during hot and dry summer nights. To prevent this trouble, only use light that emits a minimal amount of heat.
Conclusion
Homeowners only want what’s best for their home’s function, safety, and beauty. Choosing LED lights for your home landscape lighting is an excellent investment to achieve these goals.
