Lower Electricity Bills with LED Holiday Lights

Lower electricity bills with LED Holiday lights.  The holiday season is a wonderful time of year. Joy and fellowship abound as we spend time with our families and friends.  Holiday lighting on the tree and outside our homes helps set the mood for the season.  This is also a time when our budgets take a hit.  Fortunately, LED holiday lights allow us to enjoy the season while saving money on electricity.

Advantages of LED Holiday Lights

LED holiday lights have many advantages over their incandescent counterparts. First, they are cool to the touch.  This is important in reducing the likelihood of a house fire from overheating your Christmas tree.  It is also great from the standpoint of not burning your fingers when you handle the light strands.  Another advantage is that LED lights are shatter resistant.  LED lights have plastic lenses instead of glass, which makes them far more durable.

In addition, LED lights have a longer life than incandescent holiday lights. Traditional holiday lights last 4 to 6 years depending on usage.  LED holiday lights can last more than 10 years.  Some experts rate their life expectancy as high as 20 to 40 years.  They are also much easier to install.  With incandescent lights, you are limited to connecting about 3 or 4 strings of lights.  LED lights allow you connect up to 25 strings of lights without burning fuses or overloading the outlet.  This means fewer extension cords and more flexibility in designing your light display.

Use Less Electricity

We have discussed that LED holiday lights are cool to the touch, durable, long lasting, and easy to use. If you still are not convinced to replace all of your old incandescent light strings, consider that LEDs are also much more energy efficient.  Here are some slam-dunk examples from the U.S. Department of Energy assuming the lights are on 12 hours per day for 40 days:

• A 50-bulb string of incandescent C-9 lights costs $10.00 in electricity. A 50-bulb string of LED C-9 lights has an electricity cost of only $0.27.
• A 200-bulb string of traditional mini-lights costs $2.74 in electricity. Replacing that string with LED mini-lights reduces the cost to $0.82.

If you do some serious light decorating inside and outside the home, these energy cost differences add up to a tidy sum.

Upgrade Your Holiday Lights

When first introduced to the market, LED holiday lights were much more expensive than their incandescent counterparts were. Convincing consumers to upgrade their indoor and outdoor lighting is a hard sell during the gift-giving season.  Fortunately, the prices of LED holiday lights have come down considerably.  Some major home improvement stores even offer discounts if you trade in your old incandescent light strings.

Finally, keep in mind that there are other great ways to save energy during the holiday season. For example, treat yourself to a learning thermostat.  It is a gift that to a gift that keeps giving all year long.  A nice infrared space heater is also a good idea to bring comfort to your favorite corner of the house.  Enjoy those lower heating bills and have a safe holiday season!