As of February 21st, 2009, Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of Northern Virginia will begin to offer LED landscape lighting. We were the first and only company to offer low voltage ceramic metal halide (CMH) bulbs (still the most energy efficient light source used in landscape lighting, even better than LED).  The LED (Light Emitting Diode) has made tremendous technology advancements and we believe that it will continue to until it becomes the true industry leader.
We did not want to enter the LED market without being able to offer the highest quality fixtures available.
Many entered into the market early without the proper testing and their customers suffered. The color was off on many of the fixtures and they had a slight blue hue to the color.
The other major consideration in the LED fixture in the light source is the driver. Many people experienced driver failure. When this happened the entire fixture needed to be replaced. We also found in our testing that a very short voltage spike instantly reduced the life of the fixture by half. A 50,000 hour light source was instantly reduced to 25,000 hours. It obviously did not take many voltage spike to reduce this fixture to nothing.
We also removed the electronic components outside the fixture so the heat would not damage them. We found this increased the electronic life by up to 1,500% and increased light output by 10-15%.
Our fixture has gone through many tests to meet our strict requirements. We have found this new fixture matches our current 20 watt and 35 watt halogen in color, temperature, and light spread. We are estimating the life span to be 50,000 hours, although HID and LED take much longer to test because it is not possible to accelerate the aging process as it is with halogen or incandescent.
The initial cost of this LED system is almost double that of the traditional landscape lights. The payoff for this system comes over time. Typically in just energy consumption, this system will pay for itself in 5 years. If you add the savings of not having to replace bulbs, you will find that you not only save money, but also reduce waste, and reduce your carbon footprint dramatically.
All of our fixtures will be made from the most durable and beautiful materials. Each fixture is either spun copper or spun brass. There is no point having a light source that could last 50,000 hours and using a painted surface that will deteriorate after five years.
There are still some limitations for certain LED applications, but our combination of LED and CMH systems will reduce energy consumption by over 70%. Many people have become so tired of the the term “green“, but we hope there are people out there that appreciate our constant pursuit of delivering the highest quality light fixtures and using the most energy efficient lights available.