How to find eco-friendly Christmas Lights

So you want to hang up Christmas Lights…but feel like they drain to much electricity…or aren’t good for mother earth, right? Well we’re here to help!

You can still Go Green during the holiday season by finding Christmas Lights that hardly leave a footprint in your carbon steps at all! Here are some guidelines to help you in your decision:

Energy-efficient electric lighting

Dim the lights and turn up the savings by choosing energy-efficient electric Christmas lights. These basic energy-efficient lighting principles should get you saving energy and money on holiday lighting while maintaining a beautiful festive decor:

• Choose LEDs: are small  bulbs that work when electrons move through a semiconductor material. They  use nearly 90 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs resulting in      much lower energy consumption, and that means fewer greenhouse gas      emissions and cash in your pocket over      the long run. They can save you up to $10 in electricity per      300 hours of light time.

• Reach for ENERGY STAR: These  bulbs consume up to 75 percent less energy than regular Christmas lights.  In fact, if every new string of lights purchased in the US were ENERGY      STAR qualified, Americans would save over 2 billion kWh of energy every      year, which is like taking 300,000 cars off the road.

• Get equipped with timers:  Stop worrying about leaving your holiday lights on when you’re not at home  by using a light  timer to set when they come on and turn off.

And just in case you needed a bit more convincing, here are some additional LED advantages:

• Longer lives: LEDs are  “solid state” lights that do not have any moving parts, glass, or  filaments. What this means for you is that they can last up to 200,000  hours (which equals lifespans almost 10 times longer than regular strings)      without ever burning out or breaking, so that fewer replacements are      required and less garbage is created. And since they’re virtually      indestructible, unlike light strings of old, if one bulb burns out, the      whole string isn’t lost! The remaining bulbs keep on shining.

• Increased safety: On  average, there are 300 Christmas tree fires in the US every year, resulting  in 14 human fatalities. But this risk is greatly reduced when LEDs are  used since they are cool to the touch (making them safe for little      fingers, too).

Eco-Friendly lights can typically be purchased at any store during the holiday season – though we’ve found a greater selection of these lights are available at your local Walgreens, Lowes, or Menards.