If you were going to try and install traditional outdoor lighting, the first thing you're going to need to get a qualified electrician out to your house. An electrician will probably charge you just to look at your garden on top of whatever he'll charge to actually install your landscape lighting. An electrician will also want to tear up your plants to lay wires and switches under the soil.

Most solar garden lighting comes with a spike on the bottom of it that you simply drive into the soil. There are two kinds of solar cells that accompany solar lighting. The first goes with lighting that will be subject to direct sunlight all day long, which goes on the top of the light. These kind are easy to install because all you have to do is drive the stake into the ground and leave it to soak up the sun. The second kind of solar garden lights are for lighting areas that don't get much sun during the day. They usually come with a solar pad and a cord that travels from the light to the pad. These kind are more likely to have several lights that connect to the same pad. In order to install this kind, you simply push the lights into the soil where you want them to go and find a nice sunny place to install the solar pad in the same way. After that you hide the cord under some dirt or in another plant and you've got solar garden lighting.

When shopping for outdoor lighting, you will probably find that the two types are similarly priced, or even that the traditional lighting is slightly less than solar lighting. However, as mentioned above, traditional outdoor lighing requires the extra time and expense of an electrician. A single journeyman electrician will sometimes cost as much as $65.00 an hour on top of thier trip fee. Whatever you pay upfront for your solar garden lighting is what you pay period. Traditional electric lighting has additional costs of money and time on your part.

After you install your outdoor lighting another cost begins to take effect, even though it is one you might never see. The impact your lighting has on the environment varies depending on how much you use it, but also depending on what kind of lighting it is. Obviously, solar lighting is the energy efficient lighting you can buy, but it also produces less waste.

Solar Lights are typically made with Light Emitting Diodes, or LED lights which last ten times longer than traditional lights, or incandescent lights. Not only do LEDs use less energy, but they need to be replaced less, which creates less waste. Incandescent lights also contain mercury which can seem into the ground water