LED vs. Halogen Landscape Lighting — Why the Answer Is Always LED

Halogen landscape lighting was the standard technology for residential outdoor lighting from the 1980s through the early 2010s. In 2026, it is an obsolete technology for new installations. The performance gap between LED and halogen in every relevant metric makes halogen a poor choice for any new landscape lighting project in Chester County.

*Energy consumption:* A halogen MR16 lamp for landscape uplighting consumes 20–50 watts. Its LED equivalent produces the same or greater light output at 3–7 watts. On a 15-fixture system running 8 hours per day, this is the difference between 300–750 watts per hour and 45–105 watts per hour. Annual energy savings on a typical Chester County residential landscape lighting system are $150–$400.

*Lamp life:* Halogen MR16 lamps last 2,000 hours — approximately 250 days at 8 hours daily use. LED fixtures are rated at 50,000 hours — approximately 17 years. Halogen system maintenance in Chester County typically requires lamp replacement annually; LED systems typically require no lamp maintenance for 15+ years.

*Color temperature consistency:* New halogen lamps produce warm white light. As the tungsten filament ages, the lamp shifts slightly cooler. On a property where lamps are replaced on a rolling schedule rather than all at once, a halogen system produces visually inconsistent color temperature across the landscape — some fixtures warm, some cooler. LED fixtures hold their specified color temperature across their full rated life.

*The case for retrofit:* Chester County and the Main Line have a large installed base of halogen landscape lighting from the 2000s and early 2010s. These systems are typically undersized for LED conversion (many halogen transformers are already near capacity), have aged wire runs, and have fixtures that have consumed their useful life. JHL evaluates each existing system for retrofit feasibility vs. full replacement.

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