How Much Energy Do Christmas Lights Use?

Christmas Light Energy Usage

You may notice your electricity bill gets a little higher as the holiday season comes around. This is most often attributed to the additional energy usage from Christmas lights. However, just how much extra money are you spending?

How much electricity do the lights use?

What affects your energy bill most is your display size and whether you use incandescent or LED bulbs. On average, the price of electricity is 11.3 cents per kilowatt-hour.

How to calculate electricity usage costs

Firstly, you need to know how many watts you will be using. To find the kilowatt-hour, multiply that number by 0.0001. Multiply the new number by how many hours you keep your lights on a day. Afterwards, determine how many days you think you will have your lights on and multiply by that number. Finally, multiply the last number of the costs of power usage found on your electric bill to calculate the final cost.

Why should you use LED lights?

LED lights consume way less energy than incandescent lights – 80-90% less! Additionally, LED lights last up to 100,000 hours whereas incandescent lights only last up to 3,000 hours. LED lights also are constructed more durable, which means there is less of a chance of them breaking either from weather-elements or while they are packed away.

How to save energy

There are many different things that you can do to save energy. Three of top ways that will help you save the most energy are:

1. Timers

Timers allow you to control how long your lights are on, when they turn on, and when they turn off. They are perfect for anyone who routinely forgets to turn off their lights or someone who doesn’t want to venture back into the cold to unplug anything.

2. Extension Cords

Use extension cords instead of more lights in less visible areas to add length to your display. If no one is going to see it anyways, there’s no use in wasting energy (and money!) by putting lights there.

3. LED Lights

As mentioned before, LED lights are great for saving money. While they might be more expensive to buy, they definitely cut down costs in the long run.