“LED lights are very energy efficient, they save about 80 percentmore energy than an incandescent light bulb,” said Greg DeVries, with Home Depot. “They’re cool. They don’t produce any heat. You don’t have to worry about burning yourself and they have a really long lifespan –about 25,000 hours.”
LED lights cost more upfront, but Progress Energy officials said it’s an investment worth making.
Astrand of 100 typical lights uses 40 watts and costs 78 cents to run for five hours a day, for30 days. A strand of 100 LED lights uses about 4 watts and costs only8 cents to run for the same amount of time.
Toni Trusty, of St. Petersburg,has been decorating every holiday season for the past15 years.
She said her electric bill typically increases
She is slowly trying to incorporate the more energy-efficient pieces, but said they are costly.
“Hopefully, next year I’ll get some LED light stuff out here,” said Trusty. “But right now, this year, I just can’t afford it.”