I saw a very interesting story today that was put out by the California Energy Commission. They were talking about how you can save money during the holidays, and brought up the subject of LED (light emitting diode) lights vs. traditional incandescent bulbs. I knew that you saved energy and money with LEDs, but never really knew exactly how much. Well, they put together the following calculations to show how much you will save:
For outdoor Christmas lights, here is a comparison of traditional C-7 bulbs versus traditional mini-lights versus LED mini-lights.
C-7 Incandescent Bulb
Energy Used* (in kilowatts – kW) 540 kW
Cost per kW (U.S. average of 12-cents per kWh) x 12 cents
Total Cost of Energy for the Season $64.80
Traditional Mini Light
Energy Used* (in kilowatts – kW) 68.85 kW
Cost per kW (U.S. average of 12-cents per kWh) x 12 cents
Total Cost of Energy for the Season $5.51
LED C-5 Style Light
Energy Used* (in kilowatts – kW) 13.608 kW
Cost per kW (U.S. average of 12-cents per kWh) x 12 cents
Total Cost of Energy for the Season $1.09
*Energy used is based on burning 600 lights, 6 hours per day, for 30 days.
As you can see, the LED mini-lights cost approximately 80% less than the traditional mini-lights, and even less than the incandescent bulb. And keep in mind that these numbers are based on only 600 lights; if you have a major display of Christmas lights, plus your tree inside your house, your savings will be significantly higher.
So if you are in the market for new lights, seriously consider LED lighting; they might cost a little bit more up front, but will last much longer, and have the potential to save you hundreds of dollars over their life. That sounds like a pretty good deal to me… And if you don’t want to spend the money to replace all of your old outdoor string lights with new LED lights, I would offer this suggestion: whenever you need to replace a string of lights, buy LED instead of the old style. That way you can convert your lights to energy-saving LED over time, and not have to front the cost for all new lights at once.
The article from the California Energy Commission goes on to say how California’s State Christmas Tree, which is in front of the Capitol in Sacramento, is decorated with 6,500 ultra-low-wattage LED lights. These lights save 95% (95%!) of the energy that would be used by traditional incandescent bulbs. LED lights—the lights of the future
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