Save Energy This Holiday Season on LED Lights

Ah, the holidays. Happy memories of going light by light, pulling the old one out, putting a new one in, hoping to find the one bulb that prevents the entire strand from being festive and bright.

And then there is the environmentalist in me that admonishes myself for even bothering to put up the lights in the first place. I put up maybe a couple of strands of tasteful white lights, just to pull myself out of the doldrums of anticipating another cold Chicago winter. And still, I worry about the wasteful nature of the Holiday season, and as lighting uses up almost a quarter of all electricity generated in the US, I can't help but feel a little guilty about my consumption.

I have already switched over all the light bulbs in my house to the energy-efficient Compact Fluorescents Lamps (CFLs) that are on every environmentalist's things-to-have list. I have all electronic equipment on power strips so I can easily turn out the things that, even when off, can still use a small amount of electricity. So how can I assuage my guilt over Holiday lights?

Light Emitting Diodes.

LED lights are a Holiday lighting fan's best friend. They burn brighter, come in all colors, they don't get hot and scare parents about the kids getting too close, and they have no toxic substances involved. Furthermore, they are more durable that the incandescent lights of seasons past.

LEDs use one-tenth the amount of electricity of the "normal" incandescent lights. The large incandescent lights used during the holidays actually use more than 160 times the amount of energy of their LED counterparts. The LEDs also last a very long time. The average life span if LED lights are 50,000 for outdoor lights and 100,000 hours for the indoor varieties. Some companies offer lifetime warranties on their lights.

LED technology has improved over the last few years, so if you are afraid of the weird blueness that has been associated with LED lights in the past, check them out now. Many companies have worked on the lights to give them warmer hues.