PHOENIX — Whether you're shopping for new lights or getting ready to hang your old ones, not all strands are the same!
Tom Hines, a customer programs consultant with Arizona Public Service (APS) tells us there's a clear winner when it comes to which type of light will save you money and help you have a safe holiday season.
"These are two different kinds of holiday light strands, and so the ones on the right here that we have plugged in right now are incandescent lights and I can feel the heat coming off of these. These are not very energy efficient. They're releasing a lot of energy through heat instead of light. As an alternative, they now have these LED lights. So what we're going to do is plug both of these strands into this watt meter here," explained Hines.
Using a 'Kill-a-Watt Meter,' Hines was able to show the difference in how much energy incandescent lights use compared to LED ones.
"This is a strand of 100, they call them C9 lights. So, these are the larger style lights and this strand right here is using 172 watts right now. So then we're going to plug in this alternative strand of LED lights. It's also 100 bulbs in the strand. It has a very similar look. Same amount of light that it releases. It's one watt," said Hines, "It's using one watt compared to 170 watts."
That difference in watts can be a major difference in your power bill.
"Over the course of like a typical holiday season, maybe for two months, you're going to run a few hours a night. You're talking about, if you... let's say you choose 20 strands of light in your house, which isn't a lot. You're talking about $108 to $110 to run these for two months and about $1 for these," said Hines.
He says incandescent lights also run at a much warmer temperature which can also be a safety concern.
"Because they are running at like 78 to 80 degrees and these are going to be about 120 degrees or hotter. So, they're safer. They're way easier to install and you can plug a lot more of these into one light socket because they draw so little power. You can actually string 51 of these strands together. You can only string two of these strands together into one outlet," said Hines.
LED lights typically cost a little more to buy, but Hines says they will end up saving you more money because they are also built to last longer.
"So just look for LED when you're shopping. You're going to save a ton of money and you're going to have a more convenient and safe holiday season," said Hines.
Another note — be sure to look at the box to see if the lights are meant for indoors or outdoors.