Here is a technical study I’ve done for this year for Christmas lights and LED alternative. I hope you find it interesting.
INVESTMENTS:
Watts x Time x Cost = Total Cost to Run Christmas Lights.
Let’s think about using a 60 watt light bulb for 1 hour. My electrical bill lists my cost for 1 Kilowatt Hour (1000 watts) at approximately 19 cents.
(60 watts/1000) x 1 hour = .06 Kilowatts
.06 Kilowatts x $.19 per KWH = $.0114
So it costs me a little over 1 penny to run a 60 watt bulb for 1 hour. Doesn’t sound like much, but when you start considering lots of 60 watt bulbs run for multiple hours it all adds up pretty quickly. One 60 watt bulb costs 11 cents to run for 10 hours.
Now let’s do the same electricity cost comparison with our Christmas lights. We’ll use the same cost of electricity and we’ll use the specifications from the Amazon page to see that the LED Christmas lights use 8 watts and the incandescent Christmas lights use 48 watts.
LED Christmas Lights: 8 watts x 1 hour x $.19 per KWH = $.00152 After 10 hours it would cost about 1.5 cents to run LED Christmas lights.
Regular Christmas Lights: 48 watts x 1 hour x $.19 per KWH = $.00912 After 10 hours it would cost about 9 cents to run regular Christmas lights.
So the regular lights cost 9 cents to run an hour and the LED Christmas lights only cost 1.5 cents to run an hour. That’s a big difference but still not much money. Let’s now assume we have 6 strands of lights and we run those lights 5 hours a day for about 30 days in December. The result:
LED Christmas Lights: $.00152 x 6 strands x 5 hours x 30 days = $1.37
Regular Christmas Lights: $.00912 x 6 strands x 5 hours x 30 days = $8.21
Why should I switch to LED Christmas lights?
- Added safety. Lamps always remain cool to the touch. Because holiday lighting is often used in close proximately to combustible materials (dry evergreen trees) this feature can greatly reduce the risk of holiday fires.
Solid-state reliability.
- No longer will you have to worry about one lamp ruining your whole string.
- Longevity.LED lamps are rated for 50,000 hours of use or more while standard incandescent lights typically last for only 2,000 hours.
- No glass bulbs to break LED lights are encased in a nearly indestructible epoxy casing
- No filaments to burn out. Unlike incandescent bulbs there is not filament to burn out so they last much longer and won’t be damaged or ruined if you drop them or step on them.
- Extreme energy efficiency. Uses only 10% of the electricity required to power traditional incandescent. For a typical household this will mean a cost savings of $20.00 or more during the standard 30 day holiday season.
- Nearly indestructible, solid epoxy lenses. High-quality LED lights can withstand the force of a tractor trailer without breaking.
- Rust proof, Zinc-coated lamp contacts. The lamp components will not rust when used outdoors or in moist environments.
- Uses standard house current (120 VAC, 60 Hz). No need for an electrician or expensive power converters.
- No transformer required. Allows for simple installation and use.
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