Green Up Your Holidays!

"Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree..." -August Zarnack

 LIGHT UP YOUR TREE WITH LED!
As the Christmas season falls upon us, we find ourselves running frantically about, buying gifts for extended family members we see once a year, stringing lights from every peak and gutter on our homes, and of course, taking the family to the nearest tree farm to pick out a Christmas tree. Christmas is a time of giving, families, and celebration, and we seem to forget about our planet each year when it rolls around. Electricity use skyrockets during the month of December, and it is no mystery as to why.

I was watching the lighting of the National Christmas Tree this year on TV. Shortly after, a commercial for LED Christmas lights came on, and I wondered whether the National Tree was utilizing these energy saving bulbs this year. In fact, it is! According to Mary Beth Gotti, the manager of the GE Lighting Institute in Cleveland, Ohio, this is the first year that the National Tree had been decorated using LED lights, rather than custom ornaments. (The National Tree) If our National Tree is representing these new, energy efficient bulbs, it seems only fit that the rest of us follow suit. We all spend so much money during the holidays, it only seems appropriate that we cut down on our "spending" of electricity!

According to Gotti, these energy efficient LED decorations are "not only energy efficient and long lasting; they are also very beautiful, even... when they are not lit." The beauty of LED Christmas lights is not only aesthetic; They are now easy to find, and inexpensive to buy. Home improvement stores such as Lowe's or the Home Depot offer LED light sets as low at $10. They also offer even more energy efficient options, like solar powered Christmas lights. These solar powered alternatives are a bit more expensive, starting at around $20 per set, but keep in mind that your savings will be apparent on your first electric bill! Being more energy efficient around the holidays is not limited to reducing your electricity usage.

REAL TREES .VS. ARTIFICIAL TREES

One of the biggest environmental disasters associated with Christmastime is the cutting down and throwing away of countless trees. Tens of millions of trees each December are cut, brought inside for a week, then tossed out onto the curb. A live Christmas tree can cost anywhere from $20 at a "cut-your-own" tree farm to upwards of $100 at a high end tree nursery. A greener alternative? Buy an artificial tree instead! Not only does it save an innocent tree from being brutally chopped down, artificial trees are able to be used again and again, year after year. They are widely available at stores from Home Depot to Walmart to Sears and everywhere in between. They come in a huge array of sizes, colors, and types, without lights or pre-lit, in every price range.

The artificial tree pictured on the right is from the Home Depot, a 6'5" tree, for $69.95. Granted, this is a bit more than your average tree from a tree lot or farm, but you can use it again and again. It is pre-strung with lights, saving you time on decorating. (the Home Depot) With so many options as to how we can lessen our carbon footprint during the holidays, we are not only able to give to our friends and family during the holiday season; We are also able to give a little something back to our Mother Nature, by not ripping her apart in more unnecessary ways.




Works Cited

Groovy Vegetarian.  Energy Saving LED Christmas Lights.  2010.  Web.  3 December 2010.

The Home Depot.  Trees and Trimmings.  2010.  Web.  5 December 2010.

The National Tree.  Making the Tree the Most Energy Efficient Ever.  2010.  Web.  3 December 2010.