The old bulbs burn 100x more electricity, are hot enough to be a fire risk and are made of breakable glass. Still, tradition! I think the terrorists win either way on this one.
The old two-inch, 9-watt incandescent bulbs may be the gas guzzlers of holiday lights, but they remain a holiday staple in homes across the country. Many people aren't willing to trade the chubby, colorful halo effect for the softer glow of a light-emitting diode, or LED. And as retailers increasingly stock the more energy-efficient lights, lovers of the classic lights scramble to find them, fearing they will soon be gone from shelves for good.
via news.yahoo.com
I'm keeping the incandescent bulbs. We're putting the energy efficient bulbs in places where they are used most often. No matter what anybody says, Christmas lights are installed and lit on most people's houses for way less than 5 percent of the year.
That aside, aren't LED sets still extremely expensive compared to the older technology?
I'd say so for the following reason. Kathleen and I went out to buy an artificial Christmas tree on Saturday (for reasons I'll discuss in a blog post of my own...) and the trees pre-lit with LED lights were on sale for $150 to $200.
Posted by: Dave Aiello | December 21, 2009 at 12:17 PM
I'm thinking of installing a dozen massive natural gas burners outside our house for Christmas next year -- nothing says "Happy Holidays" in Berkeley like twelve massive jets of flame lighting up the neighborhood.
Posted by: Michael Sippey | December 21, 2009 at 01:24 PM
To celebrate the season we like to leave our garden hose on 24/7, running in to the street like a babbling brook.
Posted by: Mena Trott | December 22, 2009 at 09:50 AM