Menu
LED holiday lights - More merry and less money

Brighten your holidays with LED lights that save energy and money

Are you still stringing the same old incandescent decorative lights for the holidays?

 
For many Minnesotans, the house, porch, shrubs and trees are donned with holiday lights. Depending on one’s holiday lighting enthusiasm, a home can save between $10 to $250 each holiday season by switching to LED holiday lighting.

This is because, according to the Department of Energy, LED holiday lights save up to 90% of the energy used by traditional incandescent holiday lights. LEDs are also safer, sturdier, longer lasting, and easier to install.

Fill your stocking with energy savings: For every old holiday lighting string recycled and replaced with more efficient LED holiday lighting, 19 kilowatt-hours of electricity are saved over the course of the holiday season. This is the same amount of energy as a common CFL household light bulb would use if left on for 24 hours a day for 2 months straight!

ENERGY STAR is the way to go: When shopping for new holiday lights, look for the ENERGY STAR® label to ensure that the product meets strict federal energy efficiency guidelines. ENERGY STAR-qualified lighting, as well as appliances and electronics, use less energy than their older, inefficient counterparts. ENERGY STAR-qualified LED decorative lights are an economical choice because they use 75 percent less power than conventional lights and they can last up to 10 times longer.

Other advantages of LEDs include:

  • Safe. LEDs are cool to the touch, reducing the risk of fire.
  • Durable. LEDs do not have moving parts, filaments or glass, so they are much more resilient and shock-resistant than other light strings.
  • Wide range of choices. LEDs are available in a variety of colors, shapes and lengths.
  • Up-to-date features. LEDs offer the latest features and functions such as dimming and color shifting.

Learn more:

Click here to see utility rebates in Minnesota

Utilities offer LED holiday lighting rebates

Many electric utilities in Minnesota offer rebates for LED lights in general, and for holiday lights specifically.

Click here to see utility rebates in Minnesota.

If your utility is not listed, contact them directly to see if they have a rebate.

   

Be sure to recycle your old holiday lights!

 
Recycle that old tangle of lights

Year round drop-off locations for holiday light recycling include:

  • Andover City Hall – 1685 Crosstown Boulevard, Andover, MN 763-767-5175
  • Becker County Courthouse (3rd floor by Zoning Dept.) – 915 Lake Avenue, Detroit Lakes, MN
  • Becker County Transfer Station – 24413 County Hwy 144, Detroit Lakes, MN
  • Carver County Environmental Center – 116 Peavey Circle, Chaska, MN 952-361-1835
  • Chisago County Household Hazardous Waste Facility – 39649 Grand Avenue, North Branch, MN 651-213-8921
  • City of Elk River – 13065 Orono Parkway, Elk River, MN 763-635-1073
  • Coon Rapids Recycling Center – 1831 111th Avenue Coon Rapids, MN 55433 763-767-6485
  • Itasca County Transfer Station & Waste Management – 29959 County Road 62, Grand Rapids, MN 218-328-5801
  • Jobs Plus – 200 16th Ave SE, Waseca, MN 507-883-1230
  • PHASE Recycling – 104 Main Street, Sandstone, MN 320-425-2246
  • Pope/Douglas Solid Waste Management Recycling Center – 2115 Jefferson Street, Alexandria, MN 320-763-9340
  • ProAct, Inc. – 3195 Neil Armstrong Blvd, Eagan , MN 651-289-3142
  • Ramsey County Household Hazardous Waste Facility – 5 Empire Drive, St. Paul, MN 651-633-3279
  • Rice County Recycling Center & Landfill – 3800 E 145h St., Dundas, MN 55091 507-332-6833
  • St. Louis Park Rec Center – 3700 Monterey Drive, St. Louis Park, MN 952-924-2540
  • Scott County Household Hazardous Waste Facility – 588 Country Trail E (Hwy 282), Jordan, MN 952-496-8652
  • Steele County Waste Management Recycling Center – 1171 Brady Boulevard, Owatonna, MN 507-456-4894
  • WACOSA – 321 Sundial Dr, St. Cloud, MN 320-251-0087 ext 207
  • Washington County Environmental Center – 4039 Cottage Grove Drive, Woodbury, MN 651-430-6655
  • West Central Industries (WCI) – 1300 22nd St. SW, Willmar, MN 320-235-5310
     

Spread the Cheer (and Savings)

 
FOR TWITTER:

FOR FACEBOOK:

 

Get Answers blog series The Get Answers series on the Energy Stories Blog offers useful tips from CERTs and our partners to help you get to the bottom of your energy efficiency and renewable energy questions. Click here to see more stories in the series >>

Get MN clean energy news & opportunities

We encourage reuse and republishing of this article. All Clean Energy Resource Teams news posts are made available under the Creative Commons Attribution license, meaning you can share and adapt the work as long as you give us credit. We'd also love it if you link back to the original piece. Have questions or want to chat? Drop us a line.