04/27/2017
The LED Revolution: Outdoor Lighting
Improved LED fixtures are flooding the outdoor lighting market. However, conventional fixtures remain less expensive, and experts say using the latest LED bulbs in those conventional models produces equally good results.
By Drew Vass
Article Published: July 2014
Best Buy Recommendations: Current PrintEmail
Kichler Lighting
Whether it’s porch lights to welcome you home after sunset or ground-level lights that give your home’s landscape a dramatic nighttime flair, you’ll find more choices of outdoor lighting fixtures than ever before.
Federal regulations require that making or importing conventional 40- and 60-watt incandescent bulbs end, because these bulbs’ efficiency, which is measured in lumens per watt, doesn’t meet new energy-efficiency standards. (A lumen is a measure of the visible light that a source emits.) Similar restrictions were enacted in 2012 and 2013 for 100-watt bulbs and 75-watt bulbs, respectively.
These deadlines were known for years, so fixture manufacturers developed models that integrate the electronic components of energy-efficient LEDs into their designs. Thus, integrated LED fixtures are easier to find than ever before. A few manufacturers went even more high-tech by marrying wireless controls with their models.
Although manufacturers made the components of the newest integrated LED fixtures replaceable—to eliminate the need and cost to replace a failed fixture after years of use—the task isn’t nearly as easy as screwing in a light bulb.
Meanwhile, outdoor lighting fixtures that accommodate incandescent light bulbs won’t disappear even though the bulbs will, because those same fixtures also accept more-efficient CFL and LED bulbs.
