LED garden light – grow with a glow

The potential of LED as an energy-efficient indoor light source is big business, but when it's moved outside LED really starts to shine as a fun and flexible light form that can be morphed into almost any application. Click here to view outdoor LED lighting.

As a garden light an LED can be as small or as large as you like; it can be wrapped around trees and pillars; it can occasionally be walked over, driven over, or submerged; and it's as 'tough as old boots' as the saying goes, with an ability to operate in cold temperatures down to -20°C and lower without any adverse effect. They also make great security lights.

The lifespan of many LEDs is so long that the idea of 'replacement bulbs' is gradually going out of vogue. Designers can now make luminaires with 50,000 hour longevity in mind, so, for instance, an outdoor fitting can be comprehensively sealed against the elements with no need for access.

Around the house

You may by now have gathered that LED is different. It's a versatile 'solid state' form of illumination that provides a very broad palette when it comes to getting creative with your garden lighting. You can use it to illuminate pathways and driveways, plants, shrubs, trees, statues, gazebos, trellises, parasols, columns, decking, patios, ponds, fountains, and lawns.

The stylish and contemporary Vega LED Wall Light comes in a variety of metal finishes. Its integral 5W LED delivers 300 lumens of relaxing warm white light, and is fully dimmable for extra control over ambience. An IP54 rating provides evidence of robust resistance to dust and rain. With an expected 30,000 hour LED lifespan, you'll enjoy many years of maintenance-free use from this attractive outdoor luminaire.

Precise adjustment

A powerful level of security is provided by the LED PIR Twin Floodlight, which emits the equivalent output of a 200W halogen floodlight using only 8% of the energy. This light has a PIR movement sensor that triggers light whenever it detects changes in infrared radiation within its range. Any object with a temperature above −273.15°C (absolute zero) radiates IR heat, so the sensor is extremely effective!

One popular way to enjoy a garden is to add areas of decking, where you can wine and dine 'al fresco' style with family and friends. Products such as the Metro Set of 10 Ground Lights are often used at the edges of decking platforms, adding an element of safety as well as creating relaxing ambience. The low-voltage Metro set comes with cabling, a weatherproofed junction box, and a 12V transformer to provide an extremely safe outdoor voltage. Low-voltage lights are highly practical in the garden, since they do away with any need to dig a deep trench system for cable burial!

Demonstrating the sheer versatility of LED lighting, the Assisi Large LED Planter is a great way of highlighting large colourful plants and shrubs by night! One of the benefits of LED design is that LEDs themselves measure mere millimetres, and there are 15 of them in this decorative plant pot. These low-voltage planters look great in pairs as an adornment to the entrance of a home.

LED up the garden path

Moving away from the house and towards the charm of the garden itself, LED lights can play a role in highlighting special features, creating ambience, and making the garden a safe place to navigate by night.

Ideal for lining garden paths, the stunning 24-LED Short Stainless Steel Post from Searchlight oozes contemporary style with its smart stainless steel finish, and emits a cool daylight-simulating illumination that will bring out the natural colours of your flower and shrubs. This fully weatherproofed, IP44-rated post light is also obtainable in a taller version, which provides extra visibility amongst high grasses and plants.

Choice of colour temperature is a feature you won't often find in incandescent or halogen lamps, since their output is constrained by the physical temperature of the filament (roughly 2727°C in a halogen bulb). Energy-efficient LEDs do not waste power in producing this phenomenal heat, which also makes them less of a safety hazard.

The superb Deltech GL3 LED Wall or Ground Spotlight is as hardy as your winter plants, with an IP67 Ingress Protection rating that allows installation close to water and makes it completely dust-tight and water-proof. This fitting is also fantastic for showing off dramatic features such as a rockery.

Versatile and discreet, the triple-set of Alder LED Spotlights can be dotted around a border, rockery, or lawn to highlight horticultural delights, and are easily moveable thanks to their compact design and spiked bases. These weatherproofed lights come with cabling and a 10W transformer, with an ability to easily add an extra light if required (available separately). Being low-voltage, they are also extremely safe for gardens inhabited by children and pets, and again require no extravagant cable concealment.

An exciting marriage of low-energy and clean-energy technologies comes about when LED lighting is partnered with solar. Take the Everbright Solar Fairy Lights - Warm White - 300 LED, for example; this string of LEDs can be draped around many garden items to great decorative effect, and has a built-in photocell that can be set to automatically turn the lights on and off from dusk until dawn. One of the biggest attractions here is that you can take these LEDs to any far-flung corner of your garden, since they require no access to an electrical point.

These days there is no reason why your garden shouldn't be just as inviting at night as it is in the day. Though LEDs are as motionless as any rock, in the right hands they are nimble, clever, and agile, allowing an intricate painting to be created from the canvas that is your garden.

Why not take a look at our full range of Outdoor Lights.

New Title 24 lighting efficiency regulations that take effect in California recently are likely to fuel demand for hardware and software solutions that Silicon Valley companies are poised to fulfill. Changes to California’s Title 24 are designed to reduce energy consumption as much as 30% in commercial and public spaces. Most of the changes rely on electronic components and software controls that are becoming more common with the adoption of LED based lighting solutions. Advances have already been made for street lighting and parking lots and further efficiency gains will be realized. But the real energy savings ahead will be the result of more stringent regulations for indoor spaces, specifically retail, hospitality and office environments, where lighting is used for a significant part of the day.

While there are many changes, of the new standards, the following will have significant impact on efficiency and create new opportunities for hardware and software integration and simplification.

Occupant sensing lighting controls
Occupancy sensing for most spaces will be a requirement going forward. Silicon Valley brings experience with sensors and software integration that allows the familiar wall-based sensor to be incorporated directly into the light source which means fewer switches and sensors on walls and ceilings and more importantly, simpler implementation which lowers costs.

Automatic Daylighting Controls
The new requirements for daylighting controls apply to buildings over 5,000 square feet and require that the floor plan specify daylighting controls for 75% of the space. Previously spaces that were over 2,500 square feet only considered daylight from sky-lights in the lighting calculation. Now, controls must automatically adjust the light and must also consider light from the side, windows, when the installed general lighting uses 120 Watts or more. Additional sensing of the ambient light and control management software will make this possible.

Demand Response Controls
Demand response is initiated in times of extremely high demand. The lighting must be able to respond to a demand response signal and lower power levels used by lighting by at least 15% compared to the buildings usage with all lighting at 100%. In the previous code this applied to retail buildings with sales floor areas of at least 50,000 square feet. This has now been lowered to all no residential buildings with at least 10,000 square feet.

Dimming of LED and other light sources
Installed LED lighting in non-residential spaces of at least 100 square feet must now include dimming controls that can adjust light output levels from 100% down to just 10%. Light sources other than LED must also be dimmable but the standards for LED lighting are the most demanding.

Individually, any of these factors can lead to substantial energy reductions in lighting. As a group and with the other elements in Title 24, energy savings will be substantial. California has long led the nation in energy saving regulations and it’s likely that other states and countries around the world will adopt many of the standards being set in California. Companies in the hardware and software space are already developing solutions that will fundamentally change how people think of lighting, transitioning it from an energy consuming commodity to a business asset. Xicato, for example, has developed an integrated LED module —XIM—that incorporates communications, controls and sensors allowing businesses to save energy and add value to the ubiquitous light-in-the-ceiling.

Mexican government agencies and U.S. investors have expressed interest in backing a portable, refrigerator-like plant production unit developed by researchers at the Universidad del Valle de México. 

The university’s professor of engineering, Fidel Trejo Orozco, told us the ‘Cámara de Crecimiento Vegetal (CCV)’ – or Plant Growth Chamber in English – can be moved either whole, or broken down in parts to be assembled anywhere in the world.

“It occurred to me to undertake this project working on an idea that could be applied in a clean and totally hygenic environment, that could ensure almost 100% of the harvest, or what is known as food security,” Trejo said.

“I started doing some sketches and research relating to these types of chambers. In fact they already exist but are under investigation, they are not really for mass agricultural production.”

After these studies, Trejo came up with the idea for CCV, defined as a “hexagonal prism that is 2.7 meters (8.86 feet) high, with a surface area of just under three square meters

“It looks like a big refrigerator, with a door and a controlled environment inside. But instead of putting the plants in the area of the extended surface, we are making the most of volume in a vertical way,” Trejo said.

“This chamber becomes an element where we keep a part of the harvest isolated, or that is to say, the plants grow in a completely controlled environment in terms of light, water, nutrients. We use an aeroponic technique to nurture the harvest.

“Aparte from that, we have a control system that allows you to vary and control lighting, temperature and the levels of conductivity in the nutrients, as well as other factors like types of irrigation.”

He says one of the main characteristics of the chamber was its use of LED lights in the interior, which Trejo included after reading a study from the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

“NASA found that this lighting, specifically from red light and blue light, is what really serves the nutrition of plants, so that they can carry out their photosynthetic process. So, this is type of lighting we are applying and it is currently the best means to be able to light all harvcests that grow indoors.”

Eyes on the Ukraine

He said initial plans for the project were to focus on strawberries, particularly in countries with very cold climates like the Ukraine.

“Two years ago we recognized the importance of the Ukraine as a contact between Europe and Asia – really Russia – and now the strategic importance of that country is already recognized,” Trejo said.

“We had considered the possibility that this chamber could be of use for growing strawberries there, maintaining production year-round.”

However, he added the CCV could be used for a wide variety of horticultural crops, including lettuce, cabbage, kale, broccoli, spinach, and many other leafy vegetables.

In terms of project financing, Trejo said a trip was made to the United Arab Emirates to seek support.

“Initially we were looking for investors – that was the intention of the trip to the [United] Arab Emirates, but after my trip I started to find interest even from government entities to pull this off. The Secretary of Economy and the State Council of Science and Economy from the state of Coahuila are already interested in getting this going.

“Considering the expectations that have started to rise for this project, we believe we will get more financing both from private and governmental [businesses].

“There are also American investors who are interested in supporting so that we can develop [the chamber] and make our first prototype. In fact, in the Universidad del Valle de México we are already working on the idea of developing a laboratory to be able to try this chamber, and afterwards take the next step which would be developing a vertical farm based on these types of chambers.”

The professor added a very early prototype had been made on a digital level, just with images.

“We are redesigning it, also to adjust it for materials that could be found locally. In fact, we have found ourselves surprised that we could go cheaper than we thought, and therefore, obviously, there could be a lot of interest from producers.”

In terms of forecasts, Trejo said he hoped to have the first chamber built and proven by June-July at the latest, to be presented in Mexico to trial some of the team’s ideas, as well as in the Ukraine where “God willing, we will present it in a fruit and vegetable festival in November”.

“We are thinking of promoting the chamber there, and there is also an invitation to return to the United Arab Emirates next year on Feb. 2-4, which is where we would be presenting a finished prototype.”

Trejo also shared that some of the world’s biggest technology companies were working on similar projects.

“Unwittingly, we were competing with people from the companies Sharp and Lenovo, which are electronics companies, and they are working on ideas that are very similar to ours. I have to say though, when I saw Sharp’s prototype I noticed  they missed some situations that made our chamber more advantageous.

“We had to start taking much more care in showing it to avoid patent or registration situations. Now, the next step we have is the formal registration of the patent, which we could say is pending.”

The LED industry is entering into the traditionally slack second quarter. LED manufacturers have increased backlight orders in March as large international TV brand manufacturers launch new products this quarter. In addition to rising demands for LED lighting, LED manufacturer production utilization rates have also seen an increase in March. LED chip manufacturer Epistar and LED package manufacturer Everlight saw a rebound in production utilization this month. Operational performance is also anticipated to increase.

Performance for the entire industry during January to February, 2014 has been anything but slack, despite the traditional low season. LED chip and packaging manufacturer’s operational performance in Jan.-Feb. has maintained high levels. Demand for large sized backlight was driven up by Chinese manufacturers before the Chinese Lunar New Year which propelled January performance, said Epistar . International manufacturers will take the reins in pushing up backlight orders after March. Lighting demands are anticipated to continue rising and forecasts by clients remain positive. March production utilization rate will continue increasing from 80 percent in February.

Everlight March utilization rates likewise rebounded following increase in orders. Order demands gradually bounced back after Chinese Lunar New Year leading to performance similar to peak season, said Everlight. March production utilization rates increased to 85 percent, with order visibility returning to one month. March operational performance is anticipated to rise.

Average retail prices for LED light bulbs equivalent to 40W and 60W incandescent ones in the Japan market stood at JPY1,633 (US$16) and JPY2,473 respectively in January 2014, slipping by 3.2% and remaining unchanged on month respectively, according to Digitimes Research.

January average retail prices for 40W- and 60W-equivalent LED light bulbs in other markets are as follows: US$20.60 (up 3.0% on month) and US$22 (down 0.5%) in the US; EUR13.70 (US$18.80, up 2.2%) and EUR17.50 (down 8.9%) in Europe; KRW14,353 (US$13.20, down 1.3%) and KRW16,035 (down 0.8%) in South Korea, Digitimes Research indicated.

In the China market, January average retail price for 7W and 9W LED light bulbs stood at CNY46.9 (US$7.80, down 1.3%) and CNY55.30 (down 4.8%) respectively.

Osram 40W-equivalent LED light bulbs and Osram 60W-equivalent models for sale in the South Korea market had the highest average lumen-price ratio of 72.4lm/US$ and 114.8lm/US$ respectively in January. In terms of luminous efficiency, Cree 40W-equivalent LED light bulbs for sale in the US market and Toshiba 60W-equivalent models available in the Japan market had the highest average level of 75.0lm/W and 96.5lm/W respectively.