Tis the season for beautiful but costly light show displays, but new technology is coming to the rescue.

LED or Light emitting diodes are more than 90% efficient, far better than traditional incandescent lights. They also can last up to 25,000 hours compared to 3,000.  A string of 300 traditional C-9 lights costs about $90for a season (60 days/6hrs a day, $0.12 per Kwh), compared to $0.84 for LEDs! Some LED light strings also remain lit even if one bulb in the string burns out, is loose, or is missing.

Our local utility PGE even offers instant rebate programs to switch.

Typical cost: Amazon has a 7 ft string of 30 holiday lights for $8. Prices are falling every year.  Because these last so long, try spending a little more for more durable lights.

If you have old energy hogging lights, it is time to recycle them for LED ones. The payback is very fast.