There are a myriad of options out there when it comes to garden lighting, but one of the best developments is the use of solar garden lights. These are simply lights set up for the garden that get their energy naturally from the sun, and then using this reserve of energy, solar garden lights light up the garden. A lovely symmetry, don’t you think? And far superior than having a cable run into the garden to provide a source of (electrical) power!

How exactly do solar garden lights work their magic? Without getting into any technical details, it’s simple: they are equipped with small solar panels. When the sun is shining, these solar panels are able to capture a tiny, tiny fraction of the energy emitted. Then, this energy is re-purposed into powering the equipped lights. (FYI, the solar cells themselves are usually made up of either pure silicon, amorphous silicon, or crystalline silicon. For more information on the technical set up of a solar powered light, check out this post from How Stuff Works.)

This means that you only get lights from a solared powered garden light if there’s been enough sun during the day for the solar panels to capture. The specifics vary from model to model, depending on how many solar panels are used and how efficient they are, but it generally works so that if it’s sunny for much of the day, the solar garden lights will keep light until late at night, and even through the night. Some solar powered garden lights won’t last as long though, and may give you a return of about half – for instance, 8 hours of sunlight will give you 4 hours of solar powered garden light. This doesn’t sound like a lot, but this means that the garden will be lit up all the way up to most peoples bedtimes.

Like any garden or home accessory, solar garden lights come in a wide variety of designs. Many are self contained, meaning the solar panel and the light are all together in a compact unit. Others attach to a solar panel that can be placed a few feet away. These types of units are ideal for a set up in which the lights need to be placed in such a way that direct sunlight wouldn’t hit them, but with the attached panel running a few feet away, you’re still able to capture solar energy. Prices vary quite a bit, but expecting to pay around $100 for a solar garden lights set from a standard home improvement store is probably about right for most people getting started with solar garden lights.

Solar lighting is not nearly as cheap as standard lights that plug into the wall and are powered through our normal electrical, usually nuclear based, power grid. If you go to any garden shop or home improvement store and start sizing up your options, you might take just one look at the price and settle on the old fashioned garden lights to save a few dollars.

But are you really saving money by buying the cheapest lights?

As you know, there is more to it than this…

Consider that many solar powered garden lights come equipped with the technology to be self-sustaining, at least so long as the sun lasts, capturing the energy of the sun freely and using it to remain powered. And being that the sun is already about 4.5 billion years old at this point (give or take a few years), scientists estimate it’s nearly half way through it’s life cycle. So that means you’ve got up to another 4-5 billions year of getting free energy from the sun for your garden lights. Not a bad deal!

Now here’s where the cost saving fun statistics come into play:

If you estimate that each year you save $120 off your electrical bill (a conservative estimate) by powering all your garden lights via solar power, you stand to save an estimated $480 Billion to $600 Billion dollars over the course of the lifetime of the sun. That’s enough for another government bailout package!

ACTUALLY, I’m just seeing if you’re paying attention. If you are, then let’s get into the real specifics of the cost saving scenario that solar lights offer us.

If you estimate that your solar garden lights will last 10 years, and each month they save you $10 off your standard power bill, that’s $120 that stays in your pocket every year because of the one time investment you made into solar powered lights.

Over the 10 year lifespan of these products, that’s $1200 that you otherwise would have spent on powering standard lights and paying the electrical company for the priviledge to do so.

So considering that while shopping for garden lighting, the $100 or $200 set of high quality solar powered garden lights might set you back a bit over the much cheaper “normal” lighting, in the long run – yes, this sounds cliche, and it’s even a double pun, but nevertheless – it pays to go green!

In sum, solar garden lights are cheaper in the long run. It’s that simple!