Photo by Joe De Maio

Olbrich's Holiday Express

Flower and Model Train Show

December 1 - 31, 2007

Olbrich’s “Green” Lights

The lights on our holiday trees are L.E.D. lights.  They are good for the environment because they use 90 percent less energy than typical incandescent holiday lights!  

Why are L.E.D. lights good for the environment? 

Each bulb with L.E.D. technology uses only 0.04 watts and is up to 90 percent more efficient than its incandescent counterpart.  So a household burning 10 strands of lights for eight hours a day for a month at $0.0853 per kilowatt-hour would spend $127.67 for large, incandescent bulbs, $7.20 for traditional mini-lights, and just $0.72 for L.E.Ds. These newer bulbs are sturdy, last up to 100,000 hours, or 20 years, and barely warm up, eliminating fire concerns.

For more information on energy usage of L.E.D. lights, see:

http://www.ase.org/content/news/detail/2737

For more info and sources for purchasing L.E.D. lighting, see:

http://familyfinances.suite101.com/article.cfm/save_with_led_christmas_lights

http://www.environmentaldefense.org/article.cfm?contentID=5619 

http://www.mge.com/images/pdf/brochures/residential/LEDHolidayLights.pdf  (PDF)

Additional tips regarding safety and sustainable energy usage:

 ·  To maximize holiday lighting savings, use timers to limit light displays to no more than six evening hours a day. Leaving lights on 24 hours a day will quadruple your energy costs – and create four times the pollution.

 ·  Be safe – Untended lights can cause fires, so always unplug your interior holiday lights before going to bed or leaving the house.