Can businesses be festive and frugal?
Absolutely, especially with these holiday energy-saving tips.
Lighting tips
- Replace your old holiday lights with Light-Emitting Diode (LED)
light strings. Although they cost more initially, LEDs use a fraction of the
energy of traditional holiday lights. Plus, they last up to 20 years.
- Plug your indoor and outdoor lighting displays into a timer set to run
during the earlier evening hours.
- If you don't use timers, unplug your lights when you go to sleep or leave home.
- Rather than adding more lights to your tree, try enhancing the existing lighting
with tinsel, mirrored ornaments and other reflective items.
- Try floodlights on the outside of your business. Models are available for
incandescent and halogen bulbs. Halogen bulbs give more
intense light and use less energy. Buy different colors for a festive
look!
- Use our holiday lighting calculator to
estimate the energy costs of your holiday lights.
Safety tips
- Before hanging holiday lights, check for damaged sockets, plugs and cords.
Replace anything that looks defective.
- If you plan to string lights outdoors, be absolutely certain they are marked for
outdoor use.
- If you use a ladder when decorating outside, stay well away from
power lines. The same can be said for lights; do not place them near power
lines.
- Fasten outdoor lighting securely to your building's exterior to protect the
lights from wind damage. Use only insulated staples or plastic attachments to hold
strings in place, not nails or tacks.
- To avoid overloading electrical circuits, never plug in more than three sets of
lights to one extension cord.
- Don't use light-duty flat extension cords, often brown or
white, to power your lights. Instead, use heavy-gauge UL or FM labeled round
extension cords.
- Never run electrical cords under rugs or carpeting.
- Turn off electrical decorations before leaving.
- Don't let small children play with light strings.
