This morning’s USA Today has an article about holiday decor and the advantages of using LED lights as opposed to the traditional incandescent bulbs.
This one seems like a no brainer. According to the sources in the article, over the past 40 years, the brightness of LED lights has doubled every 18 months and the cost has dropped approximately 33% in the same 18 month increments. LEDs will last for 50,000 hours, incandescents only 1000 hours. While the cost for LED light strings is about 50% more, their cost to operate is 35 times less! The payback on these comes in the first year and from then on, they’re free! Again, a no brainer.
Many cities are switching to these lights for their holiday decorations. New York’s Rockefeller Center tree which will be lit next week will be draped in 30,000 LEDs. The National Christmas Tree in Washington, DC this year will also be outfitted with LEDs for the first time.
Other cities and towns across America are making the conversion and with the decreased cost for energy to power them all, some are considering leaving them up year round, thereby saving the cost of annual put up and take down. Again, seems like a no brainer.
So where can you get these for your home? Most of the stores carry these during the holidays and with discount coupons from stores like Michael’s, Target, the cost becomes extremely affordable, even though they are not that expensive to begin with. And when the credit card bill comes in January, it’ll make the holiday seem that much more merrier.
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