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With the Christmas holidays looming large on the horizon again, we’ve decided that, this year, “Tis the season to be energy-efficient,” is going to be our yuletide motto.

So, in this newly eco-friendly spirit, why not try switching your traditional Christmas lights for energy-saving LEDs?

Lighting has always played an important part in our Christmas celebrations. Every year in late November and early December, we dig the decorations out of the attic or from the garage, and begin to make our homes look festive.

The results can be spectacular and, for people like Boston resident Dominic Luberto, the process of illuminating his home for Christmas begins in early October, and the components cost him $10,000 to put together.

And it isn’t just our homes that get a makeover, as we also look forward to extravagant public displays. The Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Centre in New York, which is shown above, has been wowing city-goers on an annual basis since 1931, but didn’t use electric lights until 1956.

In 2007, however, its traditional but extremely wasteful 45,000 incandescent bulbs were changed in favour of energy-efficient LED lights, which reduced its energy consumption by almost two thirds.

Energy-Saving LEDs

The fact is that extravagant Christmas lighting displays have traditionally meant spending an exorbitant amount of money on energy.

Indeed, this year, the average household can expect to pay an additional £100.00 to power their Christmas lights throughout December, while simultaneously producing enough CO₂ (Carbon Dioxide) to fill more than two double-decker buses.

Researchers in York have calculated that over the three days of festivities, the average Briton will create about 650kg (1,433lb) of CO₂ emissions, which is the equivalent of 1,000 Christmas puddings!

So if you want to keep your Christmas merry, it’s well worth ensuring that your lighting is less energy-intensive.

The simple solution is to swap your old incandescent bulbs for some energy efficient LED bulbs.

LED lights will generate the same number of lumens of light, as their incandescent counterparts, but they’ll cost you a tiny fraction to power.

Their energy-efficiency is such that you’ll require 90% less electricity to run bulbs that are just as bright, meaning your yuletide expenditure will be reduced dramatically, and that’s what we all want, right?

Extended Life-Span

The reason for this is that they produce much less heat than incandescent bulbs, and the heat they do produce is more effectively dissipated thanks to the ultra-effective heat sinks with which they’re equipped.

Heat is a major contributing factor to the degradation and premature failure of light bulbs, whatever their type, so any reduction is a good thing, especially with regard to longevity.

LEDs have a significantly longer life-span than traditional incandescent bulbs. In fact, at 50,000 hours, it’s so much longer that they’ll only need replacing once every 17 years, whereas you’d need to replace an incandescent equivalent several times every year if they were both lit for 8 hours a day.

If you’re stuck for ideas about exactly how to use LED lights in your home this Christmas, look no further than our vast range of LED strip lights. They’re so incredibly flexible, versatile and easy to use that people have even been known not only to decorate their Christmas trees with them, but also to create entire Christmas trees from them, as this picture shows:

This ‘tree’ was created using RGB LED Strip Lights, and while it’s not exactly traditional, per se, at least you won’t have to worry about one or two of the bulbs blowing and taking out the whole circuit, as tends to happen every year with incandescent decorative lights.

You’ll be able to mix varying amounts of Red, Green and Blue light to achieve a full spectrum of changing colours including cool white colour temperature, and what’s more, you’ll be in full control of your Christmas tree’s activities thanks to the RGB Colour Touch Controller!

With all the incredible features of LED lights, you’ll be glad they’re for life and not just for Christmas!

If you’d like a chat about upgrading your domestic lighting to LED this festive season, why not give a member of our customer service department a ring on 0116 321 4120 today?

You’re also more than welcome to send us an e-mail enquiry about anything and everything LED lighting-related to: cs@wled.co.uk.