We are going to participate, are you?

Last night N asked me how I “unhooked” the holiday lights. See, we went so see some family for a few days and as cautious holiday decorators we unplugged out x-mas tree lights and also the outdoor decorations while we were gone. We would hate to have the neighbors mangy dog come on to our deck while we are away and chew on (or even urinate on) our holiday lights and start a fire.

Anyway, N plugged our lights back in but they weren’t working! I wasn’t too concerned about it because our red and blue led rope lights were on and working just fine. We use our LED rope lighting to light our pathway and stairs to our front deck. We live in a more secluded area just outside Flagstaff and we enjoy being surrounded by the forest as opposed to having paved sidewalks and street lights, sure our neighborhood is very dark but we like to be able to look up and see stars!

Our LED rope lights use so little energy, we can bend them and wrap them around the stairs and along the walk way and they don’t ruin the star viewing or run up or electric bill (they even work when the x-mas lights are on the fritz!).

Do you use LED rope lighting or any other type of energy efficient lighting alternative? Have you gotten on the energy efficient lighting band wagon, do you see a difference in cost, quality, etc?

Several of our neighbors have really gone all out with holiday decorations. I am amazed at how many people have started and completed putting up their holiday decorations, it is only November 27th! We haven’t even retrieved our holiday decorations from the storage unit yet and some of our neighbors have all their decorations up and proudly gleaming at night. We are either really behind in decorating or other are just jumping the gun.

We are planning to dig out our decorations this week and this weekend we will go cut down our own Christmas tree. We are slowly preparing to do the holiday decorations and we have been eying the energy efficient Christmas lights that are for sale in the stores. We plan to buy some, it’s cool how many sizes and style are available. The choices can be confusing and misleading though.

There are several types of holiday lights available I am told that “The LED Christmas lights offered in most big box stores use a 2-piece construction. This configuration limits the life of an otherwise long lasting LED bulb because it is not moisture proof.” It is best to choose LED Christmas lights that utilize a 1-piece construction because these are weatherproof, moisture proof and have a longer life thus saving your more money.

An interesting tidbit of information that I just learned is that LED Christmas lights are stronger than the other alternatives! This is a great news for me because our cats make it a mission to knock all the pretty things off our tree and onto the hardwood floor thus shattering and breaking them. I am hoping that these more efficient LED Christmas lights will be able to with stain the destructive forces of my kitties this holiday season.

You probably already know I am a sustainable living freak. We love saving our gray water for the garden, we like energy efficient appliances and just about anything that can save us money and energy. We even just started a “green blog”, greenpreferred.com

The new energy efficient craze is LED lights. These are a very big deal right now, they are made for more and more household uses (including holiday lights) and a new company just came out with LED landscape lighting for your home!

LED lights are great because they are an energy efficient alternative to a 100 year old technology. Switching to LED lights is better for the environment, they are safer and they will save you money too! If you have landscape lighting you might consider switching to a more cost effective and safer LED lights.

As we slide into the last few festive weeks of 2007, we should take time to make sure our decorations and celebrations are wise choices; not only for our pocketbooks but our planet too. Going green for the holiday season can save you some greenbacks and green up Mother Earth and it can be as simple as buying some strands of LED Christmas Lights.

That’s right, pretty soon you’ll dive headlong into the yearly tradition of pulling some dusty boxes out of the depths of storage to unveil a plethora of holiday decorating pleasure. One of those yearly tasks undoubtedly involves straightening strand after strand of lights, replacing broken bulbs and figuring out why the center of your light display from last year isn’t lighting anymore. You could circumvent the whole process by buying new strands of lights that will save you that future hassle and some money too!
LED Christmas lights are relatively new to the holiday decoration market. But they’re a huge win in time and energy savings. LED’s can burn up to 100,000 hours, providing year after year of hassle free dazzle. Last year, Pacific Gas and Electric ran some tests on the new lights and found out LED’s use little energy. According to their test results, a strand of 300 regular mini Christmas lights will use a little more than 30 kW/h (kilowatt hours) over the course of six weeks. That’s about $5 worth of electricity. Those giant sized lights you have hanging on the eaves of your roof will suck 473 kW/h or about $76 in power. Talk about an energy hog! A strand of 300 LED lights will use just 3 kW/h, costing you a mere $0.47 to power for the month. Add those savings up over the course of the month for your entire holiday display and you might just be able to afford that Caribbean cruise in February!

But energy savings isn’t the only plus. LED Christmas lights are also significantly safer than normal incandescent light strands because LED’s emit little heat. That will help prevent your Christmas tree from drying out and becoming a possible fire hazard thanks to layer after layer of hot lights. Plus, if you have little ones in the family they won’t get burned by touching the LED’s. So, when you go to pick out new lights for your decorations this year, make a change. It’s going to be tempting to pick out the same ‘ol cheap lights when you see that LED’s cost more (about $10 or $15 for a string of 100). But, if you spend a little extra now, you’re guaranteed to save money on your holiday electric bill, save the frustration of broken and burned out light bulbs and save the environment too.

Your Christmas tree is literally green but there are other uses for that dried out wonder when you’re done. You can move the tree outside and decorate again, this time with orange slices, pine cones smeared with peanut butter and suet balls filled with sunflowers. Soon your yard will be filled with birds of all kinds taking part in the holiday celebration. Make sure to remove all tinsel though because it will kill our feathered friends. You can also trim the tree down and compost the needles and twigs, drying the trunk for next year’s Yule log. Many cities are now collecting Christmas trees and turning them into mulch for city parks and citizens. Or, you can purchase a living Christmas tree that you can plant in your yard or donate to a local school.

LED Christmas lights and recycling your tree are just two simple ways to make sure your season greeting are a little greener. Happy Holidays! You can read another article I wrote that is just about holiday LED lights here.

Solar energy is a free resource this is available to all of us. Solar energy can power your home, you can sell any unused energy back to the power company and the government offers considerable incentives too!

My mother lives on her own five acres of desert and she is interested in implementing solar energy to save money and take care of the environment. Today I found the perfect product for her an many others who are interested in renewable energy.

Did you know that you can get a solar heating/AC System that can save you lots of money? This solar heating/ AC system is very popular in places such as Japan and these types of heating/ AC units have been around since the early 20th century!

If you are looking for a way to save money and the earth you should really look into investing in some “green” energy! It has awesome benefits and does some good for the earth too. Check it out and give solar energy a try!