LED Lights for the Holidays

LED lights have been in the news recently as traffic lights around the country have difficulty shedding snow after our recent blast of winter. While there are still some bugs to work out in that application, LED Christmas lights are a great investment for your decorative lighting needs.

According to Focus on Energy, LED lights have several advantages over conventional incandescent bulbs.

More energy efficient. LED holiday lights use up to 90 percent less energy than standard mini lights and up to 99 percent less energy than standard C-7 holiday lights.
Longer lasting. LED lights can last up to 200,000 hours when used indoors, and some manufacturers also provide a five-year warranty.
More convenient. LED holiday lights are available in 35 to 100-bulb strings in a variety of colors. If a bulb burns out, the other bulbs will stay lit so bad bulbs can easily be replaced.

Safer. LED lights produce almost no radiant heat and don't have the same components that cause traditional lights to burn out or combust.
Sturdier. These bulbs won't break. In fact the casing for the diode is solid plastic so it's almost impossible to break.

Just a couple of years ago, these lights were very expensive and hard to find. Now they are readily available in a wide variety of styles and colors, including micro, mini, “crystal”, nets, icicles, beads (string of lights encased in acrylic beads), yard ornaments and many more. You can even get lights for exterior use that come with their own solar panel so you don’t need to run an extension cord.

While these lights are more expensive up front, over the life of the string they will pay for themselves in energy savings and durability. For instance, when I compared a string of 100 incandescent mini lights to a string of 100 LED lights using my Kill-a-Watt meter, the mini lights consumed 72 watts while the LEDs consumed 2 watts. We’ve had some of our lights for three years and haven’t lost a single bulb.

Now is a great time to purchase LEDs, as many retailers have their remaining stock on sale. Plus, until December 31st, 2009, Focus on Energy is offering a $3 in-store coupon for qualifying LED holiday light sets so you can save even more. You can visit FocusOnEnergy.com for a list of participating retailers.

I wish you and your family a joyful holiday season and a greener New Year.