Energy efficient festive lights use 99% less energy than conventional lights

Light emitting diode (LED) lights, which are only 0.04 Watts per bulb, use ten times less energy than standard mini-lights, and last up to 100,000 hours indoors, are a more environmentally-friendly festive decoration for the holiday season, says a US energy efficiency advisory service.


According to the Energy Ideas Clearinghouse, operated by the Washington State University Cooperative Extension Energy Program and underwritten by the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, the energy cost of lighting 500 standard C-7 bulbs for five hours every day for 30 days is US$18.90, compared to US$1.89 for 500 mini light bulbs, and US$0.19 for the same number of LEDs. However, the initial cost for a string of LED lights is considerably higher than for standard festive mini lights.

The efficiency of LEDs also has a number of knock-on effects, such as the cool temperature of the bulbs meaning that there is no chance of combustion from over-heating, and the bulbs are virtually indestructible. LEDs are also easily strung, with up to 25 strings able to be connected end-to-end without overloading a typical household’s electrical circuit, and the replacement of bulbs is easier, as when one burns out, the others remain lit.

Another new energy efficient product being suggested by the Energy Ideas Clearinghouse is a fibre optic artificial tree, where light is transmitted from a single bulb through hundreds of fibres and emitted along each branch of the tree, which can even change colour.

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