Oh, What Fun it is to Save Energy!

With the holidays quickly approaching you’ll notice all around you the beautiful twinkling lights the inside of houses ,businesses, outside in parks and yards. In the past, most lights were incandescent and became hot, using a lot of energy! This can be a bit of a problem when you look at your power bill after the holidays! As we turn on our twinkly holiday decor we may not realize just how much energy we’re wasting by using incandescent lights.  When you go into a store it can be initially cheaper to go for those incandescent bulbs, they’re small, how much of a difference could it make? Turns out, a fair bit! LED holiday lights may cost more upfront but will last you years longer than the other variety, coming in all colours from white to rainbow you can still enjoy the style of light you like most.

Green Schools Activity: Let’s Compare Holiday Lights

Cape Breton local Brycen Boland is well known by the community to go all out during the holidays, has switched from incandescent to about 60% LED within the past few years and is saving over $60+ on his power bill. For someone like Brycen who is a collector of antique holiday memorabilia, he has to make sure the items last and is kept in the best condition they can! With 28 trees and 400 outdoor decorations, LED’s have made it easier to light up the holiday!

If you’re someone who may want to start growing their holiday decor, he also suggests trying thrift stores and buying second hand and then replacing the bulbs. We can save money by using LEDs but we can also cut down on our waste by making sure to donate old decorations, or repurpose them. This significantly helps reduce the amount of plastic purchased by reusing old decorations, and upcycling them into new ones. 

If you have some working incandescent holiday lights and you are wanting LEDs, Efficiency NS will exchange every 2 strings of incandescents for a single string of LED lights free of charge. What a great way to bring efficiency into the holiday season!   

~ Genaya Fraser

Engagement Officer