It’s the holiday season and many of you will, if you haven’t already, put up some festive lights to help celebrate the season. In the latest online edition of the Irvine Environmental Programs Newsletter, the following suggestion was made: “This year, instead of rolling out that tangled knot of incandescent lights, consider switching to low-energy LED holiday lights. You'll save electricity and Crown Ace offers free holiday light recycling.” This should help to reduce your holiday light bill as well as help reduce waste that ends up in the landfill. And reducing landfill waste will help to eventually reduce the cost that your city pays (in other words, you the taxpayer pays) for waste hauling and landfill management costs. You will also help to reduce some environmental costs that landfills present.

The City of Irvine’s Environmental Programs page also gives the following information about the benefits of using LED lights for holiday decorating: If all decorative light strings sold in America this year were ENERGY STAR® qualified, we would save over 700 million kWh of electricity per year. Did you know?

● They consume 70% less energy than conventional incandescent lights strands. LED light strands can use up to 90% less energy.

● They can last up to 10 times longer than traditional incandescent strands.

● They are cool to the touch, reducing the risk of fire.

● Products labeled for outdoor use are subjected to weathering tests.

(Source: US EPA’s ENERGY STAR WEBSITE)