Last Christmas, I meant to use all LED lights but found our local stores to be sold out or low on inventory. I didn’t have time to pursue it any further as it was quite possibly the busiest Christmas season our family will ever have. I did find LED C7 outdoor lights, but they were cool white (which look blue) so I promptly returned them. Not that I have anything against blue, it just didn’t look right on my house especially since LED lights are just not as bright as regular ones. Keep that in mind if you buy them.
LED Christmas lights are up to 80% more efficient than regular Christmas lights. However, another really serious benefit is that LEDs do not get hot. I always worried about the outdoor lights generating heat against my nice copper rain gutters and about the extra heat on our Christmas tree. No need to worry with LED lights. It’s a little bit safer when you have small kids around the Christmas tree. I also believe that this year, the cost of purchasing LEDs is down, though not insignificant.
This year, I’ve changed out all of our lights. I found Target and Costco to have plenty of inventory. Costco, as of last week, has warm white LED C9 outdoor lights which is exactly what I want as warm white looks white, not blue. I plopped the boxes on the counter, told La Jolla Dad, and he totally lacked the enthusiasm that I was expecting. I know he’s never been a fan of my outdoor lights for aesthetic reasons (mind you I put one strand of white on our rain gutters all the way around the front of my house – it’s not like a theme park or anything), but I thought at least he’d be happy that this year they’d be LED. Then we got started talking about the extra energy Christmas lights consume. I live in a neighborhood, where expense is no object for some people and on some of these homes, there are thousands of lights even on the tallest palm trees. I can’t even imagine what their electric bills are in the winter. Some houses probably have solar panels, though I’m not sure. There is also the expense of putting these lights up as Christmas Light Professionals are everywhere, which you could argue helps stimulate the local economy. Either way, the display of lights is incredible and I admit that I like looking at them.
Anyway, all of this got me thinking about energy consumption. According to Wikipedia (where this chart is from) and a few other websites I checked, our energy is about 60% sourced from petroleum and coal. I purposefully, try to keep politics out of this blog. But let me just say, coal is disgusting. I saw first hand what it does to the air in China. Also, everyone knows the issues surrounding our dependency on foreign oil.
So with all of this in mind, I’m still staring at my unopened boxes of LED outdoor Christmas lights. I’m feeling a little bit of guilt because they still consume more energy than if I didn’t hang outdoor Christmas lights at all. Our solar panels aren’t up on the house yet as the technology we need to power the entire house, with minimal weight on the roof, is not available yet. I don’t know all the details, that’s La Jolla Dad’s department. But when they are installed, what kind of Christmas lights I have won’t matter because we’ll be entirely off the grid.
The bottom line is that Christmas lights make me happy. They make my neighbors happy. I’m not against them, but the energy they drain is certainly something to think about.
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Twitter: beths_confusion
November 30, 2009 at 8:36 am
We do outdoor lights this year we have LED (we got a great deal last year when everything went on sale), but we don’t keep as many lights on inside during this time of year. They also don’t go on for too long & we wait until Advent to turn them on (yesterday). They also don’t stay on all night. Like everything I think it’s a balance issue, at least in our house that’s how we approach it.
.-= beth aka confusedhomemaker´s last blog ..Le Creuset Giveaway: Food Made in Love =-.
Twitter: blessedsoandso
November 30, 2009 at 10:27 am
We put up Christmas lights I love them and I HATE to admit here, but we don’t pay a lot of attention to LED or not… I really love the brightness of the old ones….
Twitter: Maven
November 30, 2009 at 8:38 pm
It’s so true. My husband and I are wrestling with the same dilemma – especially since the rest of my neighborhood looks like Clark Griswold upchucked. I feel left out. We haven’t decided yet though I suspect the lights will go up because it makes us happy.
Like Beth, we’re not big energy consumers otherwise and enjoy sitting by candlelight in the evenings.
.-= Maven´s last blog ..Holiday Madness Begins =-.
LED lights are great – last year we had them on our tree and everyone commented on them. They do not throw the light as regular lights do but they are bright. They really looked nice with twinkling white lights.
They cost more than the standard incandescent but don’t last half as long and many provide less than adequate lighting. I’m ready to try the LED’s which should drop in price as volume increases.LED Christmas Lights – Still a save the Energy
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