Efficient Holiday Lighting Strategies

Do you love decorating your home with holiday lights every year but not the higher electricity bills that come with all those lights? Here are some tips to help decorate for the holidays without wasting electricity.

One of the best ways to save energy is to use LED bulbs, which use about 80% less energy than incandescent bulbs. The amount you can save depends on many factors, including how many hours your holiday lights are turned on.

One report said that replacing five strings of traditional incandescent outdoor lights with LED bulbs could decrease the impact to your monthly bill from about $14 down to 22 cents. Another report said that replacing incandescent lights on a typical indoor tree with LED bulbs could lower your monthly cost from $15 to $2.

The reason incandescent bulbs are so inefficient is that at least 90% of their energy is converted into heat, not light. LEDs, by contrast, convert virtually all their energy to light. This means up to 20 strings of LEDs can be linked together, whereas incandescent sets are typically limited to no more than five strings in a chain. The efficiency of LEDs also makes them safer because they generate so much less heat.

Aside from their energy efficiency, LEDs can last longer—around 200,000 hours or more, or about 25 times longer than incandescent lights. The bulb is more durable because it’s made of epoxy instead of glass.
But not all LEDs are created equal. An LED that isn’t designed properly can flicker, change color or draw power even when it’s turned off. To avoid these problems, purchase Energy Star-rated LEDs, which must use 75% less energy than incandescent lighting and must pass a number of additional tests. 

The drawback of switching over to LED lights is the upfront cost. But one estimate showed the estimated cost of buying and operating standard C9 lights for 10 seasons is $122 for incandescent bulbs and $18 for LEDs. Plus, LED lighting is more likely to last the full 10 seasons, meaning fewer trips to the store. With prices for LED lighting falling every year, now may just be the time to swap out all those old light strings for safer and more efficient LED versions.

There are other ways to cut energy expenses, too. You can use decorative solar light sets, which store energy during the day and release light during the night. Timers are also a good idea because they can reduce energy use, especially if you don’t always remember to turn the lights off before bedtime.

Innovative decorating ideas can make your display more dynamic and interesting, which might help you get by with fewer lights. These could reduce energy costs and still keep your holidays bright:

• Color-changing LEDs can cycle through the colors in sequence and can even be set to change colors in response to music.
• A laser light projector sits on the ground or other flat surface and projects multicolored patterns onto the wall of your house. Most include a timer function and may come with a remote control and additional features. They come in a range of prices from $20 up to $150 or more.
• You can recreate the excitement of a laser light show (using LEDs) by installing a smart lighting system that creates preset or programmable light shows through your smartphone or other smart devices.
• For maximum effect with the smallest amount of energy use, try distributing the lighting across a broader space. In the spaces between light, add reflective ornaments and decorations to increase the light effects and add interest.