Christmas Lights Powered by Solar – Solgen Power
December 1, 2022
A colder-than-average projection for the upcoming winter season and the ever-increasing energy prices are deemed to significantly escalate heating costs for the majority of US consumers this winter, as stated by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) in its Winter Fuels Outlook.
The winter season is not very far away, and with Christmas just around the corner, homeowners must be prepared to deal with significantly higher electric prices to keep the heat and Christmas lights lit throughout the holidays.
Christmas tree with decorations and lights in the background.
For most people, decorating homes during the holiday season is the best way to feel a sense of happiness and spread Christmas cheer. For others, it’s merely the time to observe the extravagance of those Christmas displays and bear the cost.
You can witness many homes adorned with a vast array of decorations, lights, blown-up Santas, garlands, and wreaths. Often, these Christmas lights are lit up from October onwards. As per a new study from the Center for Global Development, the holiday lights in the United States of America consume far more energy than a handful of developing countries.
Americans account for approximately 6.63 billion kWh (kilowatt-hours) per annum on festive lights. In contrast, countries like El Salvador consume 5.35 billion kWh per year. This research doesn’t come as a surprise to most experts.
Christmas is a holiday that generally calls for celebrations, meaning more guests, more electricity consumption, and more significant energy bills. Thus, as responsible homeowners, we must start taking measures and look for ways to save money on energy bills for the holiday festivities and gifts.
Experts suggest buying decorations that don’t use excessive energy or rely on solar power. It is a sustainable and renewable source of energy, and using it enhances grid security and drastically minimizes loss of electricity.
Solar-powered Christmas lights might be the ultimate energy-saving and cost-cutting solution you’re looking for during the holiday season. Using solar over Christmas is an excellent way to power your Christmas decorations and appliances and tremendously save on your energy bills.
Using solar helps lower your dependence on the grid, ultimately benefiting our planet and the environment.
Christmas Displays Energy Usage
Winter is the season for homes adorned and sparkling with Christmas lights. Still, all that festivity and joyous holiday spirit come at a significant price, primarily because of the Christmas light installation and usage.
Lighting during the Christmas holidays alone accounts for 40% of your energy bills, and this percentage boosts even more during Christmas. In New Hampshire and California, it can add up to $30 to your energy bills to run Christmas lights from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. It could be even higher in other states.
Types of Christmas Lights
While shopping for Christmas decorations and lights, you will come across various types of lights and ways of how to hang Christmas lights. Just like every home appliance consumes a different amount of energy, the same applies to different types of Christmas lights.
The most popular types of Christmas lights that can help you determine how much you are spending with the Christmas displays in your home include:
● Christmas Tree
The most prevalent Christmas tree mini lights that can be bought from any supermarket consume 25 watts per strand, on average, containing approximately 100 lights in each strand.
Despite the size, the electricity consumption from these lights can quickly add up if you use 10 strands of these lights on your Christmas tree. This totals up to 250 watts, equivalent to your flat-screen LCD TV.
● Outdoor String Lights
Outdoor string lights are much more prominent in size, so they are easily visible and admired by passersby. As a result, they utilize more energy. A single strand of 100 huge festive lamp-type bulk consumes roughly 500 watts. To decorate the whole house, you will need 10-20 strands of outdoor string lights.
● Outdoor Tree Lights
If you wish to take your Christmas game to the next level and decorate a giant Christmas tree outdoors, you’ll require approximately 20,000 lights. One set of 25 Incandescent C9 Stringer Set lights uses 175 watts, meaning you’ll need at least 80 strands to light up the entire tree.
This consumes about 14,000 watts of energy, which is more than your toaster, freezer and refrigerator, coffee machine, dishwasher, and washing machine combined.
● Icicle Lights
A strand of 100 icicle lights consumes around 5,500 watts. Even though they’re incredibly fun and versatile, icicle lights have an exceptionally high running price tag.
● Christmas Decorations/Accessories Requiring Electricity
Any other lighting decorations you wish to put up in your front yard will call for additional electricity use. This can comprise bright reindeer and Santas, sparkling snowmen, etc.
The actual electrical usage differs from decoration to decoration. Still, you can expect an average of 120 watts of energy usage for each decoration.
Different Types of Lights
Now that you know about the costs of running Christmas lights, it’s time to understand how much energy is consumed by different types of lights.
● Incandescents
The traditional, old-style incandescent bulbs are relatively pricy to run, especially if the bulbs are larger. A strand of big-sized incandescent outdoor lights can work out to a whopping $15.12 to power over the winters (assuming for 45 days over 12 hours).
In contrast, a comparable string of C9 LEDs consumes just 2.4 watts and hardly costs 21 cents to run during the same time.
● LEDs
Unlike incandescent bulbs that require heating the inner filament to produce light, LEDs are powered using conductors without generating heat. Hence, they consume up to 75% less energy and last 25x longer.
The average lifespan of LED lightbulbs is 50,000 hours. So, switch to LED Christmas lights, and you can likely use them forever.
Electricity Usage by Christmas Lights/Displays
Suffice it to say your choice of bulbs (LED or incandescent) and display type and size will determine your electricity bill. On average, the cost of lighting up a Christmas display in the United States is $19.81.
Powering these festive lights and decorations for 6 hours each night in the US for the 34 days, from Thanksgiving to New Year’s, is the most costly in Hawaii, at $46.62, and the least costly in Louisiana, at only $13.94. Find out the average cost of running Christmas lights for your state.
The calculations were based on 10 strands of incandescent lights, roughly 68.5 ft. long, and two inflatables. The lights are the most significant expense during Christmas because the inflatable décor hardly costs over $1 in most states.
● Typical Light Usage Cost
If the kids’ eyes light up upon passing across your house, you can be classified as a typical light user. When comparing external Christmas decorations, these users will use roughly 1-3 wreaths, a garland, and approximately 10 strings to wrap their outdoor Christmas trees. After calculating the cost, you can observe there is minimal electrical consumption.
● Typical Heavy Usage Cost
If cars slow down while driving past your home and your neighbors stop by to tell you how much they admire your Christmas display, you might be adorning your home with more decorations and lights than typical Christmas home decorators.
A typical heavy user will line the driveway and roof with Christmas lights, outline the walkway with lit trees, add a wreath to the front door, and wrap 1-2 trees with lights. This additional power consumption is bound to significantly impact your energy costs, so it is best to calculate an estimate beforehand.
● Typical Enthusiastic Usage Cost
If people and cars start lining up outside your home to admire your display, you’re easily classified as an enthusiastic user. A typical enthusiastic user will line the yard, roof, and driveway and decorate all their trees with Christmas lights.
They add light to every nook and cranny of their house, and often create distinct and breathtaking sights like light show trees, and even fill spaces in the yard with walkway trees and motifs, which often animate to the sound of music.
Enthusiastic decorators should always calculate their power usage beforehand and determine the best type of lighting to use for the holiday display.
Solar Panels for Extra Holiday Power
Whether you install a Christmas light timer or switch to energy-efficient LED lights, Christmas lighting is bound to soar your energy use. Amidst this, solar power is an excellent, sustainable, and renewable means of providing lighting for your home, especially during Christmas.
Moreover, solar Christmas lights can help you save a ton of money and drastically cut down your energy bills. Read more on how solar can help you save money.
As an increasing number of homeowners opt for solar panels, they’re becoming quite mainstream. When you get solar panels installed within your home, you can balance the costs of your holiday lights and have stored energy to spare.
You do not have to save up for your energy bills each time the holiday season is around the corner when you are already saving up for gifts. Instead, allow the solar panels to manage all your additional utility costs. When you have a solar battery system, the unused energy can be stored in the battery for days when you require additional power.
These lights run remarkably well with solar energy. They can provide light for an entire light if you have ample sunlight to charge your panels. When the Christmas holiday approaches, you can generate solar energy throughout the day and store the additional energy in a battery to power your Christmas lights at night.
Provided that solar panels offer enough energy for your whole house, they can easily power your Christmas lights. Solar energy is incredibly useful and quickly gaining popularity amongst households across the entire world. Here are a couple ways in which the use of solar power to run your Christmas decorations and lights can benefit you:
● Stand out from others
Despite solar power’s increasing popularity, many people have still not embraced this incredible, renewable, and sustainable energy source. The use of solar in your home for running your home appliances and lights categorizes you as an energy-conscious homeowner.
● Help the environment
Incandescent lights consume 40 watts of energy per 100 lights, which is taken from the grid if you do not have solar. A solar system is effective for your home as it generates energy using the earth’s resources.
● Cut your electricity bills
Solar power helps you save considerable money on energy bills, especially during Christmas. This money can be used to plan for the Christmas festivities and buy gifts for your loved ones.
Solar panels are a wonderful and worthwhile investment that is bound to change your life in multiple ways, as well as make you more energy-conscious and help you live a sustainable life. Backed with all this information, you probably know how beneficial solar panels can be for your home for all your future Christmas holidays.
So, consider going solar if you want extra holiday power this Christmas. Several consumers considering going solar have come across the term “Net Metering” but don’t know what it means. In the next section, we look at Net Metering in more detail.
Net Metering During the Winter
Simply put, Net Metering is a utility billing mechanism offered by the majority of the states in the US that provides credit to business and residential customers who, using
their solar panel systems, produce surplus electricity and send it back to the grid. Using this mechanism, the credit acquired during the other periods of the year can help users cover their energy costs during cloudy winter days.
When you have a solar system installed on your rooftop, it can generate more electricity than is typically consumed during daylight hours.
With the net metering system, homeowners are only billed for the “net” energy consumed each month, i.e., the difference between the energy the solar power system is producing and the energy your home consumes over the monthly billing period.
When your home is net-metered, you’ll observe the meter running backward. Depending upon local policies, this typically means you might be eligible for a credit to hedge against the electricity you consume from the grid at nighttime or when it is not sunny.
As a result, you’re only billed for your net energy consumption. The surplus energy generated by your solar system will be returned to the grid for others to use.
The net metering program is beneficial for the winter season. It can significantly help keep your utility bills on the lower side, saving hundreds of bucks annually. Hence, it’s good to implement this money-saving alternative and go solar soon.
There is another way homeowners can benefit from net metering. As your solar system generates electricity close to where it’ll be utilized, it minimizes strain on the transmission infrastructure and distribution of the grid. This reduces energy loss from sending voltage several miles from the closest power plant.
Even though some claim that net metering poses an unfair liability on non-solar electricity customers, the majority of net metering cost-benefit studies have discovered the contrary to be true.
Solar is a Great Christmas Gift
The winter holiday season is one of the most desperately awaited and greatest times of the year. It enables us to spend time with our family and loved ones, reflect on personal goals and milestones from the former year(s), and relish the lovely winter months cozily in the comfort of our homes.
With many misfortunes happening throughout the year, most families feel like Christmas is the time when they deserve to splurge at least a little bit on gift-giving. While gifting someone a massive TV, gadget, or a new car may seem like a good idea to many, Solgen Power is offering the perfect gift this season that will never stop giving back.
Solar power can be a great Christmas gift to yourself, your family, or your loved ones this year. In fact, it is a present that is bound to make all family members happy. Children love solar, as they are thrilled to see it magically generating electricity from the sun.
Solar is the perfect Christmas gift for people of all ages. While it can benefit grownups from reduced energy loss, low utility costs, and saving money, it can help children by powering up their electronic gadgets. This way, they can enjoy hours of daily screen time without escalating their parent’s energy bills.
Naturally, kids will be eager to learn everything about solar panels, which ultimately becomes an exciting way to teach them about clean energy habits to help the upcoming generations in saving the planet.
One of the most significant advantages associated with choosing solar as a Christmas gift is its level of non-dependency – the ability to not depend on other energy sources and now have more options to choose from. Solar panels allow people to start taking ownership of at least one source of energy they consume.
In addition, going solar can be an excellent gift for yourself because it substantially benefits the entire family and is a great way of putting money back into your pocket. Moreover, anyone who invests in solar power will certainly become the talk of the town.
Buy Solar Panels at Solgen Power
When looking for the best place to buy solar panels, Solgen Power is the first name that should come to mind. Known as one of the biggest and most renowned companies in the Northwest, we at Solgen Power are growing at an unmatched pace with our solar power installations.
However, since affordable and solar do not typically appear in the same context, most homeowners do not understand how they can benefit from this wonderful energy source. Although the price of solar has dropped to an all-time low, it still calls for a considerable investment.
At Solgen Power, we know that most families do not have the significant disposable income required to pay off a new solar system at full price. But thanks to the $0 Down Solar Program, solar has become more accessible now than ever before. The Zero Down Solar program is a solar installation program that enables you to install solar panels on your home for $0 down costs.
This program allows homeowners to gain ownership over their own energy. The $0 Down Solar Program at Solgen Powers works by following 8 detailed steps, from inspection to installation. Once the installation is complete, only then can you pay for something. Click here to see if you’re eligible to sign up for the $0 Down Solar Program at Solgen Power in just minutes.
Finally, with solar installations having an average lifespan of 20-30 years, you can rest assured solar financing works. Installing solar panels and using the power generated during the holiday season is cheaper than purchasing electricity from the utility for all those years.
Moreover, with the multitude of benefits one can get from solar, there is no doubt why it is such an excellent investment.
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