Replace your traditional incandescent holiday lights with energy-saving light-emitting diode (LED) lights this holiday season and save energy.

LED holiday lights use up to 90 percent less energy than traditional lights and last more than 25,000 hours.

LED lights provide other great benefits, including:

— They draw much less power, so it is safer to string together long strands

— Much cooler burning than standard lights, so they are much safer

— If one bulb burns out, the rest of the strand still works

— Great vibrant colors and lots of styles now available

While LED holiday lights cost slightly more than traditional bulbs, they quickly pay for themselves when you consider the energy savings.

LED holiday lights use between 1 to 3 kilowatt hours of energy, compared with 12 to 105 kilowatt hours for traditional incandescent lights. When compared against one another, operating 50 feet of LED and incandescent bulbs (mini, C7 and C9) for 300 hours, LED can save anywhere from $1 to $11 in energy costs.

Regardless of which bulbs you use to light up your holiday, you can maximize their efficiency by plugging them into an automatic timer.

For more tips on how to increase your energy efficiency and save money this holiday season, please visit: www.flagstaff.az.gov/homes.

— Source: Nicole A. Woodman, city of Flagstaff sustainability manager