With Thanksgiving come and gone, it’s time to get your Christmas decorating on! It’s always the “most wonderful time of the year” when you can finally take all those Christmas decorations out of storage.
And who could forget the most important of all Christmas prep, the trimming of the tree! A brightly lit fir with colorful ornaments hanging off the branches is the centerpiece in any home during the Holiday Season. Too bad all those strings of lights hanging off your tree are going to cost you when the December electric bill comes. It’s the price you pay for a happy holiday.
But does it need to be?
Instead of using conventional strands of Christmas lights, this is the year to upgrade to LED lights and see what the buzz is about. You’ll find that LED lighting will save you money in more ways than just one!
Energy Savings
You’ve heard it before: LED lighting is the way to go if you want to use less energy than regular lighting. The difference is big enough that you will save significantly more using LED lighting over traditional incandescent lights. According to Energy.gov, the cost of lighting a six-foot tree, 12 hours a day for 40 days, adds up to $10 dollars. That may not seem like much, but it only takes a couple strands of lights to light a tree. If you start adding in the costs of other lighting strands, inside and outside your house, that cost can increase significantly.
Now take LED lighting. Under the same example, you would only be paying 27 cents for those same 40 days. $10 dollars versus 27 cents. Those savings are huge, and now you can use even more lights around your house!
Less Replacement
Here is a scenario that may sound familiar: you are wrapping the Christmas lights around your tree. A few laps around and several light strands later, you’re ready to plug it in. When you do, you find only half the tree has lit up. It looks like another year of replacing bulbs and buying new lighting strands.
Or switch to LED lighting!
LED lights are made to last years, as compared to their incandescent counterparts. LED lights can last 25,000 hours, even upwards to 50,000. Incandescent bulbs only last about 1,000 hours. And, LED Christmas lights are plastic instead of glass, so they are less likely to end up broken when being packed up at the end of the season.
Less Risk
As goes with using anything electrical, there are certain risks. The same can be said with Christmas lighting. If you find yourself needing lots of strands, you may run the risk of overloading an outlet. You also need to give your lights some time to cool off, as they can get hot with extended use. In extreme cases, hot Christmas lights can light a dry tree on fire. Household fires are a serious matter, and the damage that one does can cost thousands to fix.
LED lighting doesn’t have these same safety problems.
LED lighting produces very little heat, and uses much less energy when compared to incandescent lights. Most of the heat produced by LED lights is contained within the bulb, so LED’s are often cool to the touch. Incandescent lights release nearly 90% of their energy as heat, and so are typically hot after long periods of use. LED lights also use 75% less energy than traditional lights, creating less of a chance to overload an outlet or blow a fuse.
For Christmas this year, don’t skimp out on the lights when decorating. Make the change to LED lighting to save money with energy, replacement, and safety. It certainly is worth the effort, and you’ll be able to have a “merry and bright” holiday season for years to come!
