The holidays are nearly here — are you ready to decorate your home or business? If you are still decorating with incandescent Christmas lights, but are considering switching to LEDs, then here are 5 tips to help make an informed decision.

How LED Lights Work

LED Christmas lights use light-emitting diodes, rather than a filament, to produce light. This makes LED lights more efficient, durable, and longer-lasting than fluorescent incandescent lights. They don’t burn out, nor do they get hot to the touch, which makes them a much safer option.

Money versus Energy Savings

At Mountview Landscaping, we see so many properties outfitted with frighteningly outdated lights under the guise of saving money, but they could actually save more by upgrading to energy-efficient LED lighting.

Incandescent bulbs waste a good deal of energy; a full 90% of their energy is released as heat – hence why regular bulbs get so hot. LEDs use up to 75% less energy, and last 25 times as long.

LED Christmas Lights are More Durable

Finding and switching out individual light bulbs at the start of every holiday season is the worst, right? The good news is that LED Christmas lights don’t require a lot of maintenance. As LED bulbs don’t burn out and only get dimmer over time, you don’t have to bother with replacing bulbs and fuses. Simply plug them in and they’ll light up reliably year after year.

Incandescent bulbs typically last about 1,000 hours. If you keep your holiday lights up for two months and run them six hours a day, you get about three years of value, on average. Not so bad, until you consider the alternative.

LED lights last at least 50,000 hours. If you run them all day, all night, all year, they’ll still last about six years. Even better, at six hours a day for two months, LEDs will last 140 years.

LED Christmas Lights are More Energy Efficient

From an energy efficiency perspective, there’s no comparison. LEDs use far less electricity to produce the same amount of light. They produce significantly less heat, which is why they break down far slower than incandescent bulbs.

Incandescent bulbs, conversely, waste tons of electrical energy through heat. They use 90% more energy just heating the air, not producing light.

Are you a numbers person? Ok!

  • A basic 100-count string of incandescent bulbs uses about 40 watts of power.
  • A 100-count LED equivalent uses about 7 watts.
  • We’ll assume you use 50 strings for 360 hours annually.
  • Your electricity costs 15 cents per kWh.
  • The incandescent bulbs will cost you $108 in electricity each year.
  • The LEDs will cost you less than $20.

At current electricity rates, you save more than $1,800 if over 20 years as a residential customer and much more if you’re a large commercial property owner. You could also save $4,761 in light replacements over the same time period.

How will you use your thousands and thousands of extra dollars?

Benefits of LED Christmas Lights

Many home and business owners prefer LEDs because they’re darn versatile. LED bulbs can be dimmed, and change colors.

LEDs generate less heat, which makes them less of a fire hazard. They’re more durable, and because they use less electricity, they’re unlikely to cause sparks and short out.

LEDs can be left on safely 24/7 without posing any risk. The longer you leave incandescent bulbs on, the more dangerous they become.

Mountview Landscaping is happy to help free up your time (and the storage space where you usually keep your tangled lights). We will gladly take care of your holiday lighting needs this year!  Give us a call for a free quote!