LED Christmas Lights Versus Incandescent Bulbs: Making the "Cents"-ible Decision

Ah, Christmas! The hanging of the stockings! The wrapping of the presents! The arrival of the post-holiday electric bill! If you're like Ralphie's dad in "A Christmas Story," still struggling along with your outdated incandescent holiday bulbs, this might be the year to leap into the 21^st century and deck the halls with LED Christmas lights.

Cost to Operate: In 2008, the California Energy Commission (CEC) reported on the cost savings that can be realized during a typical holiday season by switching from traditional incandescent Christmas lights to LED Christmas lights for outdoor holiday lighting. Their comparison involved use of 600 lights, burning six hours a day, over a period of 30 days. Using the U.S. average cost per kilowatt hour of 12 cents, traditional incandescent Christmas lights cost $64.80, incandescent mini-lights ran up a cost of $5.51 and LED Christmas lights cost a mere $1.09 to run during the holiday season.

Durability: As if the cost savings of operating LED Christmas lights weren't enough of a plus, Consumer Reports rated the durability of LED Christmas lights back in 2007 and reported that LED Christmas lights were still working fine after 4,000+ hours of use while each string of incandescent lights tested suffered one or more burnt out bulbs at less than half that time. Since LED Christmas lights also run cooler there's less of a fire risk than operating traditional incandescent Christmas bulbs.

Initial Cost: Both the CEC and Consumer Reports acknowledged that the initial cost of LED Christmas lights can be higher than with incandescent lights, with LED Christmas lights having an initial cost of approximately $1-1.20 per foot versus the cost of incandescent lights which was approximately 40-45 cents per foot. For the purpose of an informal update to today's prices: A quick check of Amazon.com shows a 30-foot/100 bulb string of multi-color changing LED Christmas lights can be had starting at about $17 or approximately 57 cents per foot while a string of single-color incandescents cost approximately 48 cents per foot.

While switching to LED Christmas lights can mean a higher initial cost it can also mean drastically reduced holiday energy costs over time as well as being more durable and safer to run than their incandescent counterparts. Do a little legwork, comparison shop wisely and you might find yourself having a "green" Christmas this year. More green for the planet, more green in your pocket!

Sources:

California Energy Commission press release: Stretching Your Energy Budget During the Holidays (http://www.energy.ca.gov/releases/2008_releases/2008-12-09_holiday_tips_nr.html)
Consumer Reports: LED Lights Are the Bright Choice for the Holidays
(http://blogs.consumerreports.org/home/2007/12/led-lights.html)