Feature Articles
Energy Efficiency
over the Holidays
over the Holidays
Barbara Buffaloe, Housing & Environmental Design Associate Specialist, College of Human Environmental Sciences, University of Missouri-Columbia
The holiday season is a time of celebration and most homes are decorated to the nines. However the holiday season is also a time of higher energy bills because of our home heating needs and the electricity for holiday decorations. Certain behaviors need to be adopted by homeowners to decorate their homes for the holidays, but not waste electricity doing so. There are products available for the homeowner that allow beautiful holiday displays, yet do not require a lot of electricity to run.
The most popular decoration during the holiday season is lights. Holiday lights can be found on millions of holiday trees and decorating the inside and outside of our homes. There are some ways to cut down on that energy usage.
- Change out your inefficient incandescent holiday lights
for light-emitting diode (LED) holiday lights. LED lights
are 80 percent more efficient than incandescents; making
them the least expensive to operate over the holiday season.
LED bulbs have a higher initial cost than incandescents, but
they last 20 years. The bulbs are safe to use around
children because they do not shatter, are cool to the touch,
and do not produce heat – so there’s no danger of fire.
Note – make sure all lights you purchase contain the
Underwriters Laboratories (UL) label, which means they have
met UL’s safety requirements.
- Turn off Christmas lights during the day, when you are
away, or when you are sleeping. Using a timer is the easiest
way to accomplish these tasks.
- Take the lights down after the holidays! Don’t become “those neighbors” and be the talk of the neighborhood.
Sources:
Office of Energy Efficiency, Canada
Alliance to Save Energy
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Last update: Thursday, November 08, 2007
