LED's
vs. Traditional Lights
Are you going
to save money by using LEDs instead of traditional Christmas
Lights?
BHL is always looking at the future of the Holiday Lighting industry and we see LED technology as a huge part of it. Not only is it a far superior technology, but it is GREEN technology, something we think everyone would agree is the best way to go. With that being said, it is still something you must look at and decide if it makes sense for your lighting project.
The answer to this question depends on many factors. You need to consider the pricing of the 2 products, light output (is an LED going to illuminate as brightly as the traditional light it is replacing), how long are you planning on doing your lighting display, the length of time you’ll have your lights on each season, and the typical life span of the 2 products.
Taking into consideration
all these different factors we’ve tried to answer this
question from the perspective of an average homeowner
decorating their home. Review the costs below and see
if you think it would make sense for you to use LEDs
or Traditional Lights
The following data points
were used to reach our calculations:
Cost of lights
are(listed below) based on:
- 250ft of lights for the house (this is enough lights
to easily do the gutters of a 2 story home between
2800 – 3800 sq ft)
- 12 sets of mini lights for the yard(this is enough
for two regular size trees)
Power is based on 35
days, 6 hrs a day at $.08 cents per Kwh
Product life span
- 3 years for traditional lights(After this many
years you’ll probably need to replace all your lights)
- 6 years for LED Lights (After this many years you’ll
probably need to replace all your lights)
- The LED products used in this comparison would be
a fairly equal replacement product for their incandescent
counterparts.
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Cost
Per Foot |
Energy
Cost |
Cost
of Lights |
Cost
After 1 Year |
Cost
After 6 Years |
C7s
strand & clips
Power Use: 5 Watts
|
|
$.80 |
$21 |
$200 |
$221 |
$526 |
C7
LED strand & clips
Power Use: 0.96 Watts |
|
$1.80 |
$4.20 |
$450 |
$454.20 |
$475.20 |
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C9s
strand & clips
Power Use: 7 Watts
|
|
$.95 |
$29.40 |
$237.50 |
$266.90 |
$651.40 |
C9
LED strand & clips
Power Use: 0.96 Watts |
|
$1.95 |
$5.04 |
$487.50 |
$492.54 |
$517.74 |
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Short
Icicle Lights
Power Use: 0.36 AMPs
|
|
$12.99
10ft set |
$18.14 |
$324.75 |
$342.89 |
$758.36 |
Short
LED Icicle Lights
Power Use: 0.04 AMPs |
|
$27.99
7ft set |
$2.90 |
$1007.64 |
$1010.54 |
$1025.06 |
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Short
Mini Lights
Power Use: 0.36 AMPs
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$5.50
25ft set |
$8.71 |
$66.00 |
$74.71 |
$184.26 |
Short
LED Mini Lights
Power Use: 0.04 AMPs |
|
$15.99
25ft set |
$.978 |
$191.88 |
$192.85 |
$197.70 |
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Long
Mini Lights
Power Use: 0.6 AMPs |
|
$13.99
50ft set |
$14.52 |
$167.88 |
$182.40 |
$422.88 |
Long
LED Mini Lights
Power Use: 0.08 AMPs |
|
$31.99
50ft set |
$1.94 |
$383.88 |
$385.82 |
$395.49 |
While LED lights consume much less energy than traditional Christmas lights, their higher upfront cost makes them a more undesirable choice for the average consumer. However, over the past several years we have watched the technology grow leaps and bounds, as well as the prices fall dramatically. At this point BHL feels that the benefit outweighs the added costs of LED’s, and that there is no reason not to use LED’s whenever possible.
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