Why Install an Outdoor Lighting System ?
Installing an outdoor lighting system at your home has many benefits. Proper installation of the lighting system will greatly enhance the beauty of your property.
Installing an outdoor lighting system also has many SAFETY and SECURITY aspects as it makes your home less inviting to potential intruders, especially when properties are vacated at different times throughout the year.
Benefits of LED Lighting
The Advantages & Benefits of LED Lighting:
LEDs have wide applications in outdoor as well as indoor lighting.
LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, are a form of solid-state lighting that is extremely efficient and long-lasting. While incandescent and fluorescent lights consist of filaments in glass bulbs or bulbs that contain gases, LEDs consist of small capsules or lenses in which tiny chips are placed on heat-conducting material.
Size and Efficiency
LEDs measure from 3 to 8 mm long and can be used singly or as part of an array. The small size and low profile of LEDs allow them to be used in spaces that are too small for other lightbulbs. In addition, because LEDs give off light in a specific direction, they are more efficient in application than incandescent and fluorescent bulbs, which waste energy by emitting light in all directions.
Long Life
The life of a high-power white LED is projected to be from 35,000 to 50,000 hours, compared to 750 to 2,000 hours for an incandescent bulb, 8,000 to 10,000 hours for a compact fluorescent and 20,000 to 30,000 hours for a linear fluorescent bulb. LED lifetimes are rated differently than conventional lights, which go out when the filament breaks. Typical lifetime is defined as the average number of hours until light falls to 70 percent of initial brightness, in lumens. LEDs typically just fade gradually.
Lower Temperatures
Conventional lightbulbs waste most of their energy as heat. For example, an incandescent bulb gives off 90 percent of its energy as heat, while a compact fluorescent bulb wastes 80 percent as heat. LEDs remain cool. In addition, since they contain no glass components, they are not vulnerable to vibration or breakage like conventional bulbs. LEDs are well suited for use in outdoor landscape lighting systems.
EnergyStar LEDs
Poorly designed LEDs may not be long-lasting or efficient. LEDs that are EnergyStar-qualified should provide stable light output over their projected lifetime. The light should be of excellent color, with a brightness at least as great as conventional light sources and efficiency at least as great as fluorescent lighting. The LEDs should also light up instantly when turned on, should not flicker and will not consume any power when turned off.
Cost
In many applications, LEDs are expensive compared with other light sources, when measured by metrics such as “dollars-per-lumen”. LED manufacturers continue to work towards reducing their production costs while at the same time increasing the light output of their devices.
However, the high initial cost of LED-based systems is offset by lower energy consumption, lower maintenance costs, durability and flexibility.
