Oh Christmas Light, So Green And White (And Bright)...

Speaking of LEDs, I took advantage Monday of a promotion being offered by the Truckee Donner Public Utility District (the same folks that I praised a bit more than 10 months ago). Here are the details, from the flyer:

Go green for the holidays! (or white or multi-colored)

We’re giving away free lights! Turn in your old strands of holiday lights, and the Truckee Donner PUD will replace them for free with ultra energy efficient LED (light emitting diode) light strands.

It’s easy. Just bring in a copy of your TDPUD bill along with up to three stands of old lights, and we’ll replace them with your choice of one 66 ft. or three 20 ft. white or multicolor LED lights. These ultra energy-efficient holiday lights save 89-98% of energy use versus traditional lights and save you money.

Why ditch your old holiday lights?

• Standard incandescent holiday light bulbs, which are what a majority of families use today, are inefficient and can increase the cost of your monthly electric bills during the holiday season.
• By trading in your standard holiday lights for energy-efficient LEDs, you can save 80% of your energy use on mini lights and up to 98% of your energy use on the larger holiday lights. And while at the TDPUD, be sure to ask about other programs that will save you money.
• LED technology is the next generation in ultra-efficient lighting and will put money back in your pocket. They also look great!

TDPUD is also offering free 66 ft. strands to local merchants for storefront use. By the time I got to the TDPUD office early Monday afternoon, all of the 20 ft. strands were gone, so I went with a 66 ft. white version (I tried to trade in all of my incandescent strands, but due to limited LED-replacement quantities, my request was denied).

Here are some shots of the outer package box, taken by my new-to-me Canon digicam…TDPUD apparently sourced the (unsurprisingly) made-in-China lights from the (excellent) Ace Hardware store down the street:

The lights come loaded on a plastic reel. Here are shots of both sides of it:

Here’s what the table on one side says. Are my math skills sub-par today (or have I just not yet pumped enough caffeine into my system), or are you also baffled by the percent-savings-using-LED calculations (compare the "energy used" and "energy cost" numbers for C7/C9 and Mini lights to the relevant percent-savings estimates)?

*Based on 600 lights, 6 hours per day, 45 days.
**Based on 12 cents per kilo watt hour (average in USA)

Here’s what the bulbs look like. Each clear plastic dome section is 1.5" long and 0.75" in maximum diameter. Inside is the white LED…I saw the multi-color bulbs at TDPUD and they also seemed to contain white LEDs, surrounded by various-colored plastic domes.

And here’s what they look like when plugged in:

I’ll close with some thoughts on the total cost comparison (monetary, psychic, and otherwise) between incandescents and LEDs. The earlier-shown table gives the manufacturer’s stab at monthly electric bill savings, whose applicability to your particular situation (perhaps obviously) depends on how closely the manufacturer’s cents per kilo watt hour estimate matches your utility’s charges.

In my particular case, LED-versus-incandescent product costs were distorted by the fact that I got my LED bulbs for free More generally, as is the case with CCFL-versus-incandescent comparisons (assuming the CCFLs don’t prematurely expire, that is), LEDs cost more than incandescents but in exchange, tend to last substantially longer.

Which leads to my psychic point…since TDPUD didn’t take all of my incandescent strands, they let me strip the bulbs from the ones I did donate, so that I could use them as spares for the others. To wit, isn’t it comforting to ponder that LEDs, in comparison to incandescents, provide a much higher probability that each year you won’t need to tediously search for and replace burned-out bulbs? I thought so

Your thoughts on LED Christmas lights, folks?