Take a drive through the neighborhoods of Hollister, Gilroy and
Morgan Hill and one common characteristic will emerge: lights. Part
of the fun for South Valley residents during the holidays is to
cover their homes, trees, shrubs and fences in Christmas lights a
l
á Clark Griswold in the 1989 movie
”
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
”
Take a drive through the neighborhoods of Hollister, Gilroy and Morgan Hill and one common characteristic will emerge: lights.
Part of the fun for South Valley residents during the holidays is to cover their homes, trees, shrubs and fences in Christmas lights a lá Clark Griswold in the 1989 movie “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”
Making your house stand out in the neighborhood can show personality and spirit. But the skyrocketing energy costs of recent years mean some families are paying as much as $150 extra during the holiday season to make their homes festive. The problem has been solved by LED lights, which stands for light-emitting diode.
The lights use .15 watts per bulb, considerably less than larger, standard lights, which can use five to 10 watts per bulb. LED lights are the same size as standard lights and emit the same brightness.
Additionally, they don’t get hot, so they’re safer to have around children and are less of a fire danger, said Jeff Smith, a spokesman for PG&E.
LED lights cost 39 cents to light a house for 225 hours, or five hours a day, for 45 days, Smith said.
It costs $60 to light a house for the same amount of time using 300 large incandescent lights, and it costs $4.16 using a strand of mini-lights.
“(LED lights) use such an insignificant amount of energy that they’re a tremendous advantage,” Smith said.
LED lights have been used in traffic lights for years, Smith said. They went on the market as Christmas lights a few years ago but didn’t gain popularity until this year. Part of the reason is that in past years, the color options have been too limited.
“We pretty much only had them in green, red and yellow,” Smith said. “But now you can get them in a multitude of colors.”
The lights are available at Target and Costco for between $8 and $15 per strand – about $7 to $10 more than standard lights. But the lights will last a lifetime, Smith said, and the higher purchase cost will be compensated for by the lower electricity bill.
A cheaper bill is what Gilroy resident Jose Perales had in mind when he bought a set of LED lights at Target in Gilroy this week. A friend told Perales about the lights’ efficiency.
“I figured in the long run they would pay for themselves,” Perales said.
The Cost of Christmas Spirit
Type of Light: Large incandescent
Number of Lights: 300
Energy per strand: 7 watts
Average cost: $64.73
Type of Light: Mini-incandescent
Number of Lights: 300
Energy per strand: .045 watts
Average cost : $4.16
Type of Light: LED
Number of Lights: 300
Energy per strand: .043 watts
Average cost: $.039
Source: PG&E
