LEDs can light up your holidays at a fraction of the cost.

It definitely is fun for families to decorate their homes during the holiday season, both indoors and outdoors, but it can increase your electric bill much more than most people realize. Including the cost of the bulbs, the five-year cost (typical life of many bulbs) for using standard colored bulbs during the holidays can be as high as $150.

Obviously, the best alternative to consuming all this energy and creating additional global warming gases is using nonelectric decorations or fewer lights. As you have found though with your own family, the holidays are a special time for kids and they will resist this option. It would help to talk with your children and explain the long-term benefits of energy conservation during the holidays and year-round. You might be surprised at how receptive they are.

When you compare standard holiday colored lights at the store, you will see designations such as C9, C7 and mini-bulbs. C9 bulbs are the largest ones and each can use up to 10 watts of electricity. The C7 bulbs are slightly smaller and typically use about 5 watts per bulb. Mini-bulbs use just a fraction of a watt, but they are not nearly as bright as C9 or C7 bulbs.

The newest technology in energy efficient lighting is LED (light emitting diode). This is a solid-state device that does not create light by heating an element inside the bulb. Most of the electricity they use ends up as light instead of heat, as with standard incandescent bulbs. The red numerals on a digital alarm clock use efficient LED technology.

To create energy efficient larger colored holiday bulbs, several LEDs are mounted inside one bulb. This bulb has a standard base to screw into your existing holiday fixtures. A colored C7 bulb with three LEDs inside it will be as bright as a standard C7 bulb, but it uses only 0.15 watts of electricity.

These colored C7 LED bulbs have the same shape as regular holiday lights, so you cannot distinguish them from standard colored bulbs. In addition to the electricity savings, the colored shell is made of durable plastic instead of glass. Also, with LED technology, they do not get very hot so they are safer around kids and on a dry tree.

The only drawback to these colored LED bulbs is their initial higher cost. You can purchase individual bulbs and screw them into an existing string or buy ready-to-use string and bulb sets. With a life of more than 60,000 hours, you will likely never have to replace them in your lifetime. Considering this long life and the electricity savings, they should pay back their higher cost.

Another efficient option is using standard or LED mini-bulbs wherever possible. Both use much less electricity than standard colored lights and are relatively inexpensive to buy. As with the larger LED bulbs, the LED mini-lights last literally forever and do not get very hot.

If you already have your larger C7 and C9 bulbs and don’t want to buy new LED ones right now, consider installing fiber-optic converters on the bulbs so you use fewer bulbs. These converters snap over the bulbs and have many protruding fiber-optic fibers extending out from the bulbs. These fibers carry the light to the ends and create a large bright cluster around each bulb.

The best energy efficiency tip is to use fewer bulbs and light them for a shorter time each night. Perhaps you can negotiate with your kids for a two- or three-hour time period for the lights to be on each night. Plug them into a timer so you don’t forget to turn them off. Check the maximum wattage rating of the timer so you do not exceed it. This is particularly good for outdoor lights. In my neighborhood, some homeowners still leave their outdoor lighted decorations on all night.

Use as many reflective ornaments as possible to multiply the effect of fewer lights. Decorating around mirrors is an effective method to accomplish this. Small and large mirrored globe ornaments hanging near lights on a tree are particularly effective. If you make ornaments yourself, use reflective metallic threads which are available at most craft shops.

The following companies offer efficient holiday decorations: American Lighting, (800) 880-1130; Bronners, (800) 361-6736; Holiday Creations, (303) 694-1121; Kreinik Mfg., (800) 537-2166; and Miles Kimball, (800) 546-2255.

Send inquiries to James Dulley, Michigan Country Lines, 6906 Royalgreen Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45244