Trading those tattered incandescent lights for shiny new LEDs can reduce your carbon footprint and your utility bill this winter.
The amount of energy saved using LED lights typically ranges from 75 to 80 percent, depending on the manufacturer, explains Harold Kung, professor of chemical and biological engineering at Northwestern University. Here’s another reason to invest in LEDs: As an incandescent bulb heats up and cools down over time, the filament becomes more brittle, shortening its lifespan. “LED doesn’t heat up as much… so it lasts longer,” he says. “The only problem is it’s much more expensive.”
LED lights can cost more than double the price of their less efficient counterparts. (Amazon.com sells 100-count LED lights for $24, compared with $9 for incandescent ones.) To calculate how much money you’ll save after the initial purchase of LEDs follow this calculation:
| Amount of electricity saved (kilowatts) X | Cost of electricity (cents per kilowatt-hour) X | Hours used |
| .0328kW | 11 cents per kWh | 210 hours |
| Most incandescent lights use 40.8 watts (0.0408 kW) per 100-count strand, while a comparable string of LEDs uses 8 watts (0.008 kW). | Statewide average for December 2009 | Assuming you light your tree between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, that’s about 5 weeks. 35 days x 6 hours per day = 210 hours |
Based on the above assumptions, you’ll save 76 cents per 100-count strand. Let’s say you use eight strands for an 8-foot fir (the general rule for decorating is 100 lights per vertical foot of tree, says Brian Wolff, nursery manager at Chalet). That’s a total savings of about $6, or two gingerbread lattes at Starbucks.
There is one caveat: You cannot mix and match your incandescent lights with LED strands because the two bulbs work at different voltages. If you’re going to go green this Christmas, you’ll have to toss out your old strands. But if you don’t want last year’s lights to end up in a landfill, here are several places where you can recycle them:
- Mail your old lights to www.HolidayLEDs.com and receive 25 percent off your purchase.
- Help the environment and support children’s literacy when you send your bulbs to Christmas Light Source. Your lights will be sold to a local center, which will recycle the copper, glass and plastic. Christmas Light Source will use those proceeds to purchase books to donate to the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. If those reasons aren’t good enough, you’ll also receive a 10 percent discount when you place an order for Christmas lights.
- You can still recycle your lights—without waiting in line at the post office. The Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County is offering a free recycling program this winter in Evanston, Wilmette, and other locations.
