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Just a few years ago it seemed quite rare to find people lighting their garden in the evening, which may have been due to the limited lighting options available then. Now though there is a huge choice of outdoor lighting available to satisfy most projects and budgets, with outdoor LED lighting emerging as a dominant player in this field.

And it’s easy to see why, since LED garden lighting enables attractive and hitherto unachievable effects that are at the same time simple to install and inexpensive to both purchase and operate. They are also quite safe around delicate plants, animals and children thanks to their very low power consumption and corresponding absence of heat.

LED garden lighting is typically powered the same way as conventional garden lighting, with individual light fittings connected to a 12v DC low voltage power supply cable, fed by a transformer connected to the mains (located indoors). However LED garden lights use only ten percent as much electricity as traditional systems using incandescent bulbs (including halogen lamps).

Traditional incandescent light bulbs operate by burning a filament that turns electricity into mostly heat (about 90%) and some light (up to 10%) whereas LED light bulbs electronically excite electrons which as a result cause photons (visible light) to be emitted. The nice part about such Light Emitting Diodes is that the heat to light ratio is the exact reverse with 90% of the input electricity now converted to light.

What this all means is that LED lights have two important characteristics. Firstly since most of the energy is converted to light not heat they run comparatively cool (you can certainly touch them). Secondly they need ten times less electricity to create the same light levels (a 5w LED will match a 50w incandescent) and accordingly cost ten times less to run. LED lights also have life spans twenty or more times longer thus reducing maintenance overheads.

On the issue of the quality of white light produced by LED lights, the Colour Rendering Index which assesses how faithfully an object is depicted using artificial light rates them highly. The basic color choice for most LED garden lights is white but they also come in a wide selection of other stunningly rich colours too.

The light that is emitted by an LED is a pure color, meaning that it represents just one part of the spectrum rather than being a blend of colors. This tends to give them a somewhat metallic, gem like appearance – think sapphire blue, emerald green, diamond white and ruby red. LED lights are also by nature very directional which makes them ideal for spot lighting, though other effects are easy to create using diffusers and filters.

Nowadays of course you can find LED outdoor lights in all manner of different types: rock lights; floodlights; patio and deck lights; wall wash effects; lanterns; spikes; integrated in garden ornaments; submerged in ponds; pagodas, and bollards. Yet the most enduring style still seems to be the LED spot light.

Finally, a simple checklist of points to consider when buying LED garden lights.

First be aware of the low power needs – even a tiny 1w LED will seem remarkably bright in a dark garden.

Second check how widely spread out narrowly focused the beam angle is and whether that suits your intended purpose.

Third, the electronic circuitry in most LED lights is easily ruined if the outer casing is not robust enough to keep out moisture.

Finally, where LED lights are concerned cost and quality go hand in hand and you will tend to get what you pay for.

The LED lights now appearing on the domestic lighting scene are just perfect for most kitchen lighting applications. They output bright, crisp white light, operate completely cool to the touch and having running costs one tenth that of regular incandescent lighting.

In fact the payback period can be under one year and is typically well within two years, and of course the cost of running your lighting will be a tenth what it was from the day you switch.

But that’s not the whole story, because LED lighting brings a whole range of effects beyond the capability of traditional kitchen lighting. Since they produce negligible heat and are generally much smaller, diminutive LED lights are excellent for display lighting when set into shelves or inside glass fronted cabinets; they also perfect for lighting worktops when affixed underneath cabinet units.

These types of miniature LED spots are designed for either recessed or surface mounting and are quite commonly packaged as flexible strips which are ideal for accenting plinths and coving’s. As is the case with all LED lights, they do not emit potentially harmful ultra-violet or infra-red radiation (unlike halogen lamps) and of course consume very a small amount of electricity; they also most commonly use a 12v power supply and are thus pose little in the way of hazard electrically.

Where LED strip lighting is concerned, it’s easy to imagine it might have been developed for the sole purpose of lighting in kitchens. It usually comes in 300mm lengths (the modern standard dimension of kitchen appliances and units) which have an integral connecting system. Each strip has a protective coating of semi-transparent plastic which renders it waterproof and helps disperse the light evenly.

LED strip lighting systems are highly versatile and have found uses providing accent lighting in all manner of places. In the kitchen it’s quite common to see them used to pick out coving’s and plinths for example, or installed as work surface lighting underneath shelves and cabinets.

You can purchase LED strip lights as either flexible or rigid units and both types are quick and easy to install, weighing so little that they can often be simply stuck in place with adhesive. Polished (or indeed any type of reflective) floors are easily enhanced with plinth lighting using either strip lights or miniature LED spots to set a contemporary mood.

It seems as though the list of effects possible with LED lighting never ends. They create great wall-wash effects (especially against kitchen tiles) in addition to their use as accent lighting to highlight edges; but unlike conventional lighting you can even embed them in other materials or place them inside drawers or cupboards using sensors to turn them on when the unit is opened.

But when you’re done experimenting with what’s possible, it’s usually best to settle on just a handful or fewer of those ideas that blend together effectively and which you particularly like rather than risk ending up looking like an explosion in a lighting store. LED kitchen lighting is highly effective and you really don’t need to use much in order to really give your kitchen that something extra.