Bright lights, big savings

Holiday lights may help bring joy to the season, but they can also bring added costs to your energy bill. This year, save energy and money by purchasing energy-efficient LED (light-emitting diode) strands to decorate your home or business.

Standard incandescent holiday lights—and even mini-lights—can use a significant amount of energy and regularly involve costly (and irritating) bulb replacements. LED lights produce a bright light for up to 20 holiday seasons!

The average annual operating cost of a 300-light string of large incandescents is around $70, according to PG&E. A similar number of mini-lights costs $4.50. But the same number of C6 LED lights costs just 43 cents. The LED lights are slightly more expensive to purchase, but they quickly pay for themselves—and reduce overall energy consumption in the bargain.

LED technology produces light in a completely different way than incandescent lamps. While incandescent lamps emit light by heating a filament and produce waste heat in the process, LED lights are illuminated solely by the movement of electrons in a semiconductor material. Because they produce almost no heat, LED holiday lights present a greatly reduced risk of fire hazard over traditional incandescent strands and are safe to touch without worrying about burning your hands.