Brighten your holiday

In the past, when you decorated your house from foundation to eaves with traditional Christmas lights, your electricity meter switched into overdrive. With light-emitting diode technology you can feel free to deck the halls because LEDs use as much as 95% less electricity than their inefficient predecessors and last up to 10 times longer, as measured by light input per unit power input.

Unlike halogen and incandescent lights LEDs use a semiconductor crystal chip that emits light when an electrical current passes through the bulb. Since there are no filaments and no moving parts to break, LEDs last longer and use less energy; typically designed to operate on approximately 30–60 milliwatts of electrical power. Another benefit to LED lighting is that the bulbs do not grow as hot, reducing the risk of a fire.

Many stores no longer sell non-LED Christmas lights so next time you are in the market, you will find these modern lights on the shelves in a variety of colours and shapes. While older LEDs can be noticeably dimmer, the technology has quickly improved since the lights were introduced for domestic use. Try a string of LED lights out before committing yourself to multiple holiday strings of a certain type.  As a side note, some say that white LEDs are a cooler white that is closer to true daylight and it has been suggested that since people work better under daylight, they may actually feel better and be more productive.

Although costs have come down substantially, you might need to pay a little extra for high-quality LEDs; with savings expected over the long term in terms of energy efficiency. Consumer Reports report that LEDs saves you $10 dollar per every 300 hours, lasting up to 100,000 hours. However, the life of your LED system is dependent on a number of factors including the colour (red and green LEDs seem to last longer than blue and white).

Many municipalities now hold exchange programs where you can trade your old inefficient lights for new LEDs, so pack up the old and in with the new!