It’s that time of year when homes of all sizes are draped in lights of all colors. While the varying decorative displays can be eye-catching and uplifting, they can also be costly. According to CMC Field Supervisor Ralph Valente, who is based in the company’s Connecticut location, one choice about holiday lights that has the most impact on budget is wattage. In fact, consumers can save up to $200 by using LED lights.
Valente recently compiled some enlightening analysis on the cost differential between incandescent and LED holiday string lights. His research is based on a 60-day schedule of lighting up a “Griswold”-type house for four hours a day, using five different items.
Those items include a 500-foot C9 string of lights for the roof (3,500 incandescent watts vs. 480 LED watts); a 200-foot C9 string of lights for the yard (1,400 incandescent watts vs. 192 LED watts); 15 strings for walkway trees (612 incandescent watts vs. 72 LED watts); 30 strings for wrapping two trees (1,224 incandescent watts vs. 144 LED watts); and one wreath (63 incandescent watts vs. 14 LED watts). The total wattage for the incandescent lights is 6,799, costing $228.45, with the total wattage for the LED lights is 903, costing $30.34.