On this site, we have covered the many benefits of solar garden lights. They are good for the environment because they use the sun, a completely green and renewable power source, to power themselves instead of relying on a power grid powered mostly by oil and coal. Installing them is easy because you don’t need to stick any wires into the ground or place any transformers, and they are they avoid a ton of hassles by automatically turning themselves on and off each night. However, all of these reasons to buy solar powered garden lights won’t make any sense unless it is practical to buy the lights. How much money can your realistically save by using solar garden lighting?

When you go to buy solar garden lights, you’ll notice that you have several choices in the home improvement store. Cheap solar powered lights, regularly price low-voltage light fixtures, and more expensive solar lights. You can opt for the cheap lights here and save some money up front, but I can’t recommend that route. With cheaper solar lights for gardens you get what you pay for, they are not as bright as more expensive models, don’t last as long, and wear out much quicker. This leaves you with the option of installing a low-voltage system or buying more expensive solar garden lighting.

If you don’t already have a low-voltage system installed in your yard, don’t just look at the price of the light fixtures remember you also have to factor in buying and installing a transformer. Sometimes this might even entail an expensive visit by an electrician! This will be enough to at least place solar and low voltage lights on the same level.

If you already have a low-voltage transformer, simply buying more fixtures to plug into it will look like a more attractive option, but when you do the math you find out that you stand to save a whole lot of money over the long term. For example, a conservative estimate for how much it costs to light your lawn for an entire month is around eight dollars. If you use all solar lights, the total savings you can have for the whole year amounts to almost one hundred dollars! This in itself is often enough to cover the price gap between low voltage and solar models.

Factoring in the rest of the lifespan of the solar light fixture is just icing on the cake. A very conservative estimate of the lifespan of a solar light is about five years. This results in total savings of $480! If your lights last for eight years or more without maintenance, as many of them do, you’ll end up saving over $750.

Buying a solar powered garden lighting system may be a little bit more expensive in the short term, but over the lifespan of the lights you stand to save significant amount of money. Don’t be put off by the initial cost of solar lights, instead think of the long term costs and spend the extra few dollars now so you have a lot more money later.

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