Wow! It's December 1st already! Lots of people I know are getting ready to put up their holiday lights. For the past couple of years, I've noticed a different kind of light at some homes; they gave off a more vivid color. When I learned they were called LED lights, I was able to score a couple of strands to try out last year and was very pleased with the effect. A couple of weeks ago, my friend, Lynn, told me about an article she'd read in Consumer Reports (Dec. 2007, p. 9) comparing LED and incandescent strands. In short, CR states that incandescent lights are brighter and cost less but the LEDs are last twice as long and use only 10% of the energy incandescent lights use. Also, the plastic LEDs are less likely to break than glass incandescent lights, run much cooler and therefore, are less of a fire risk.
Still, it's not environmentally sound to just toss out all of last year's lights, is it? As I weed through all the strands I own, I do plan on buying more LED lights as replacements. I got an email from Mara, telling me about an article in Better Homes and Gardens (Dec. 2007, p. 112-116) by Sara Snow with lots of suggestions for earth-friendly ways to celebrate the season; one of which is to put your lights on timers, limited to 6 hours per night. Even so, 1000 incandescent lights (only 10 strands!) will cost you $50 for the season compared to 50 cents to burn the same number of LEDs. I don't know about you, but I have WAY more than 10 strands just on my tree. I guess I'll have to rethink just how many lights to put up as well.
