Winneshiek Energy District is encouraging the use of LED Christmas lights

(Photo courtesy of Wikimedia)

Staffers at the Winneshiek Energy District are encouraging Decorah area residents to invest in LED holiday lights.

Light emitting diode lights look and act just like incandescent bulbs but use 90 percent less energy.  They also have a longer lifespan than traditional lights--up to tens of thousands of hours.

LED lights also allow you to string together more lights.  That's because a strand of 70 LED bulbs typically will use 4.8 watts of energy, while a strand of 100 incandescent bulbs typically will use 40.8 watts of energy. That means you can string up to 5 strands of 100 incandescent bulbs safely in one outlet, but with LED lights you can safely string up to 43 strands of 70 bulb led lights, giving you six times the amount of lights.

The Winneshiek Energy District says by switching to LED bulbs this holiday season, you could see a return on investment in less than a year.