Written by Jerry Spaulding (with information sourced from www.energy.gov)

With the holiday season approaching at what feels like “light speed,” we will soon see the festivals of lights appearing in every neighborhood. The holiday lights will be brightening up our streets for additional evening hours as the days become shorter. Energy use will certainly be on the rise. The Energize Delaware program has put together some information and tips on how to avoid those exorbitant electricity costs by switching to energy-efficient lighting. 

Illuminate your home using the same amount of light for less money. Switching to energy-efficient lighting is one of the fastest ways to cut energy bills. Replacing a home's most frequently used light fixtures or bulbs with models that use less energy could save as much as $75 each year. Newer energy-saving lighting is available in a variety of colors and levels. 

LEDs are a type of solid-state lighting: semiconductors that convert electricity into light. Since they are one of today's most energy-efficient and rapidly developing technologies, they use only 20%–25% of the energy and last 15-25 times longer than traditional incandescent bulbs. They come in many colors, and some are dimmable or offer convenient features such as daylight and motion sensors. LEDs work well indoors and outdoors because of their durability and performance in cold environments. While LEDs are more expensive, they still save money because they last a long time and have very low energy use.

So How Much Electricity Do Christmas Lights Use?

Your display size and choice of bulbs, whether incandescent or LED, will influence your energy bill the most. For example, a 100-count string of incandescent mini lights runs at 40 watts, and a 70-count of 5mm wide-angle LEDs is approximately 4.8 watts. Because incandescent wattage is 80%-90% more than LED wattage, the cost to power an incandescent can be up to 90 times greater than powering an LED. To determine the cost difference between incandescent and LED bulbs, use the following calculations:

• Know your wattage: Find how many total watts you will be using.
• Multiply by 0.001 to find the kilowatt hour (kWh).
• Multiply by 5 hours a day to find kWh/day.
• Multiply by 30 days to find kWh/season.
• Multiply by 11.3 cents (or your cost of power usage found on your electric bill) to calculate the cost.

The chart below indicates a moderate usage for holiday lights:

Additionally, using controls such as timers and photocells save electricity by turning lights off when not in use. Dimmers save electricity when used to lower light levels. Be sure to select products that are compatible with the energy-efficient bulbs you want to use. If you have outdoor lighting that is left on for a long time, using LEDs in these fixtures will save a lot of energy.