Incorporating sustainable practices into your holiday season doesn’t have to be difficult and can be a wonderful opportunity to create new traditions, start meaningful conversations, and reduce your impact on the environment. Below we offer some tips on how to cut down your energy use and expenses and reduce waste during the holidays.

Energy Use

Switch to LED this holiday season.

On average, Americans use around 3.5 billion kWhs of electricity to light their holiday lights throughout the month of December. Using standard equipment (one 20-ft string of 100 incandescent bulbs using 40W of electricity x 9 such strings on average to light a Christmas tree and outdoor lights), for 6 hours a day means the typical household in the U.S. will use around 65 kWh of electricity in December — adding up to around $645 million spent by Americans this month running holiday lights.

One solution? LED lights. LEDs may have a higher upfront cost, but they ultimately provide savings on your electric bill and reduce your GHG emissions. When you use  LED bulbs for all your holiday lights, the amount of power you use drops by around 75%. Whether you strive for Clark Griswold-inspired lighting or a more modest holiday display, these holiday light calculators show you  how much switching to LED lights can save you!

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