We frequently help our customers analyze the cost savings that can be achieved by using LED lights instead of incandescents. The calculations to determine the cost savings are not very complicated but it is a lot easier with a good conversion calculator handy. Our Energy Scrooge Calculator provides some interesting information about the benefits of LED lights but we’ve ever written about how to calculate the exact savings one can expect by replacing their old incandescent Christmas lights with LED lights. Here’s the data you will need to perform this calculation:

1. Total # of bulbs;
2. Wattage of the individual individual incandescent bulbs to be replaced. (C9s are generally about 8-9 watts; C7s are generally about 6-7 watts; and mini lights are usually between .50 and 1 watt;
3. Amount of time bulbs will be illuminated; and
4. The average cost of a kilowatt hour of electricity in your area. ($.10 is typically a safe number.)

Step 1: Calculate total watts

Multiple the total number of bulbs by the wattage of 1 bulb. This equals the total watts of the display

Step 2: Enter data into conversion calculator

Enter the product of the formula in Step 1 into the “Watts” field in this calculator. Next, enter the total amount of time the lights will be illuminated in the “Time” section of the calculator. (Note that the time can be in seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, or years.)

This calculator will calculate the total kilowatt hours consumed by this lighting display.

Step 3: Determine cost of electricity

Multiple the total kilowatt hours the display will consume (as determined by the calculator in Step 2) and multiple it by the average cost of a kilowatt hour of electricity in your area. The Department of Energy website has statistics on the average cost of electricity.

Step 4: Determine to cost to operate Christmas lights using LEDs

Repeat steps 1-3. The average LED holiday style light is between .05 and .07 watts.

Step 5: Calculate the savings

Subtract the cost of operating the LED lights from the cost of operating the incandescent lights. This is the total cost savings you can expect by switching to LEDs.

Not really but HolidayLEDs.com announced today that it will continue its Christmas light recycling program beyond the previously established sunset date of January 31, 2008.

So far the company reports that it has recycled over 3,000 pounds of incandescent holiday lights which it received from several hundred participants. Anyone who is looking for some place to send their old Christmas lights to die can mail them to HolidayLEDs.com for recycling.

And because I know it will be asked, the lights are sent to a independent recycling company which chops the lights into little tiny pieces using a commercial shredder. The various components (copper, PVC, glass, etc.) are separated and then processed. The lead is extracted from the PVC and shipped to Chinese toy manufacturers who use it to make paint for toys for children. I’m kidding. But I did read a report about a “recycling” company that was actually shipping the old light strings to China where the insulation was manually removed and the copper was extracted for smelting…not sure that this is a net gain.

Halloween is over and even though the trees still have green leaves because of the mild fall we are having, Christmas is just around the corner. Americans consume a lot of extra energy and create and extraordinary amount of waste during the holidays. In fact, it is estimated that we produce more than 1 million extra tons of garbage each week from the period between Thanksgiving and Halloween.

We also consume a great amount of energy. This is partly because this is one of the darkest times of year but its also because people are using more electricity to light up their homes with holiday decorations. Incandescent Christmas lights are inefficient and won’t last very long. They also break very easily. LED technology has found its way into the world of Christmas lights and is much more efficient. Specifically, LED Christmas lights use about 90% less energy than standard incandescent lights and will last for more than 50,000 hours. The bulbs are also covered with a durable epoxy plastic so they won’t break.

This year pay attention to you consumption during the holidays and do what you can to reduce your energy consumption.

October 29, 2007

HolidayLEDs.com, a new ecommerce company located in Michigan which specializes in energy-efficient LED holiday lighting, is offering a discount on its LED holiday lights to customers of all U.S. utility companies. “LED holiday lights can have an astounding impact on holiday energy consumption and we want to give our nation’s utility companies a tool to help encourage their customers to make the switch,” said Philip C. Curtis, co-owner of HolidayLEDs.com. HolidayLEDs.com is offering a 10% discount to all customers of participating U.S. utility companies on its full line of LED holiday lights.

LED Christmas lights have been commercially available for about 5 years now but most people still purchase and use standard incandescent lights. LED holiday lights are 80-99% more efficient than standard incandescent lights and will last for more than 50,000 hours. “These lights last so long most people will not have to replace them in their lifetime,” added Curtis. In a recent report by the Environmental Protection Agency, it was determined that Americans consume about 2220 GWh of electricity during the estimated 30 day holiday season with incandescent holiday lights. The report concluded that a mere 20% shift to LED Christmas lights would save more than 440 GWh of electricity each year.

Energy-efficiency and longevity are not the only benefits of LED Christmas tree lights. “Our lights are extremely durable and can literally withstand the force of a full-sized truck,” said Curtis. The LED technology also produces light by an entirely different method which results in a safer holiday light. “Incandescent bulbs produce light by heating up a conductive filament until it glows.” explained Curtis. “In contrast, an LED directly produces light and very little heat is created,” Curtis added. In fact, LEDs produced so little heat that they remain cool to the touch even after hours of operation. This feature makes them more attractive and safe for typical holiday applications.

Interested utility companies can contact HolidayLEDs.com for more information about the program which is set to launch November 1, 2007 and will conclude on December 23rd. Anyone interested in purchasing LED Christmas lights can do so at HolidayLEDs.com.

This weekend we did a little early holiday decorating on my friends house. We’ve been reading a lot about LED Christmas tree lights and crunching a lot of numbers about their energy efficiency but we hadn’t really seen what they can do with our own eyes. So, this past Sunday (with leaves still on the tree and 75 degrees) we installed 2000 LED Christmas lights on my friends house and tree. We connected all 2000 lights together and plugged them into one plug which was connected to a watt meter. All 2000 lights only drew 150 watts of electricity. We did some math and determined that it would cost about $40 a year to run the lights for 8 hours a day for an entire year. I’m not sure if 2000 lights seems like a lot to the average reader but its quite a lot of lights. My friends back yard is very, very well lit.

If we did the same thing with incandescent lights it would draw over 1700 watts of electricity.

Now that they are up we are going to test their longevity. We are going to ask our friend Dave (or the Selling Machine as we call him) to leave them on 24/7/365 and see how long they will last. I’ll let you know if they are still burning next year at this time.

I didn’t say it…Robin Williams did. But it makes sense. Clean compared to what? Compared to the black lung producing crap that we used to burn?

I live in Michigan and our Governor has been paying a lot of lip service to environmentally-friendly practices and energy-conservation and so has our regional utility, Consumers Energy. However, that’s about it. The same thing is also going on in Seattle.

Recently, Consumers announced it will build a new 800 megawatt coal buring power plant near Bay City Michigan. A Consumer’s spokes person said the plant will have lower emissions than existing plants. This isn’t impressive. The spokes person also stated that wind and solar were not economically viable options for Consumers.
The problem that I have with Consumer’s economic analysis of this matter is that it does not seem to take into consideration the environmental cost of the pollution the coal burning plant will generate. I haven’t seen the financial plans for this new plant but I doubt this cost is considered in the analysis. What Consumers and other utility companies should say is that coal plants are more lucrative for them because they don’t have to pay for any of the environmental costs.
I am sure that wind and solar will eventually become more cost-effective even if one does not consider the environmental costs of operating a power plant. However, in the meantime wouldn’t it make sense to place an operating tax of some sort on power plants that would be commensurate to the level of pollution they create? This seems more reasonable than requiring us to give up our clean environment as a subsidy to the utility companies.
Besides, there will never be any incentive for consumers to reduce their energy consumption if the true cost of the power is not reflected in the cost consumer’s actually pay.

One of the big reasons that Christmas lights suck is because they are so fragile. They break if the wind blows, they break if you drop them, they break if you smash them against the neighbor’s house (who’s Christmas display really blows), and sometimes they don’t work when you pull them out of the attic.
LED Xmas lights are not woosies like the standard incandescent lights. These things can take a punch. I was watching the Bert Hawley show the other night and he completely smashed a set of these lights with his microphone. I know, I know what you are thinking, Bert Hawley is a total wimp. I agree, Bert is a wimp but he wields a big heavy microphone which he employed in his futile attempt to smash these lights. I’ve seen videos where trucks run them over–they’re just plain tough.

So, besides using 80-90% less energy,LED Christmas tree lights are the Superman of the world of Christmas lights.