Be Merry & ‘Bright’ this Holiday
…with Shimmering LED Lights
It seems like everywhere you go during the holiday season, festive lights adorn trees, wreaths and even cover front lawns. Decorating rituals and celebratory lighting ceremonies during winter festival date back pre-Christianity with candles to replicate the shimmer of stars, but the start of decorating with electric lights originates with Thomas Edison’s associate, Edward H. Johnson, in December of 1882. He had Christmas tree light bulbs made especially for his house in New York City. The lights were hand-wired with 80 red, white and blue incandescent light bulbs the size of walnuts.
However, it took until the early 1900s before businesses started to decorate their store windows and the 1930s before the average family could afford electric Christmas lights, and that was only if their house was electrically wired. Today, millions of lights illuminate homes and streets all around the world. In the past couple of years, a more energy efficient and safer light string has significantly reduced in cost making it an affordable choice. LED, or light emitting diodes, use up to 90 percent less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs. Even many of our nation’s most famous holiday displays and some of the massive light tours have already made the switch or are in the process.
Making your holiday greener
Some of the nation's most popular holiday displays have made the switch to LEDs
Remember the movie “Christmas Vacation” movie character Clark Griswold? He went a little overboard while decorating his house and used 25,000 imported twinkling bulbs. If only he would have used energy efficiency C9 LED bulbs, his electricity bill would have dropped from $2,400 to $50!
The city “Where the Spirit of Christmas Lives Year Round”, otherwise known as the North Pole in Alaska, will be making a drastic change this year. They have purchased over 11,000 LED Christmas lights to decorate a 65-foot white spruce tree.
In 2007, over 100,000 lights were replaced with LEDs on The National Christmas Tree between the White House and Washington Monument.
The 72-foot Norway Spruce tree transported to Rockefeller Center in New York will use 30,000 LED lights on five miles of wire.
About 35% of the 1 million lights the Toledo, Ohio Zoo use each holiday season are now LEDs. One 90-foot tree had 32,000 LED lights illuminated this year.
The Times Square ball will be decorated with LED lights, making it twice as bright, but using about half of the energy, and bringing in the New Year with a bang!
Just imagine if everyone would make the switch to LED lights, our country could save over $250 million in electricity costs and carbon emissions would be reduced by 400,000 tons per year. That would make a much “greener” holiday season!
‘Tis the Season to make your list and check it twice
Protect your family and your home, being especially cautious with a houseful of family and friends. Simple things can be easily overlooked during the hustle and bustle and can lead to serious injuries or even fatalities.
- Don’t overload outlets or electrical cords. Instead of plugging the extra lights, appliances into a multi-sided plug, invest in a power strip.
- Never run cords under rugs or in high-traffic areas
- Use a heavy duty extension cord
- Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCI). These devices should be professionally installed on outlets in wet areas of the home – kitchen, bathroom, laundry and basement. GCFIs stop the flow of electricity instantly if there is a problem.
Holiday Lighting Tips
- Never plug together more than 3 strings
- Never plug an incandescent string to a new LED string
- Always make sure the lights have a UL safety certification label
- Keep your lights away from flammable and combustible materials
- Turn the lights off when you go to bed or leave the building
- Stay clear of overhead power lines when decorating outside
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