Aaron Cohen

LED Christmas Lights Eco Friendly Alternative

Sunday Dec 10, 2006

My wife is Catholic and I am Jewish, and so we typically have a Menorah burning as well as Christmas lights, and sometimes a tree. It's a beautiful way for us to express our differences and our openness to celebrate each other's holidays, faiths, and traditions. This post is about being eco-friendly, and has no judgment on the idea of putting up lights as a form of celebration and tradition. I will first say, I love Christmas lights and always have. My parents used to drive us around the neighborhoods so we, even as Jewish kids,could ooh and ahh at all the beautiful lights. This post is totally at risk of calling me a scrooge, but hear me out.

I posted previously my wishlist to my mother to buy me something (if anything) that is eco-friendly. But riding my bike around Portland, Oregon, which is supposed to be a very green city, has me baffled. The city has so much holiday spirit they must have forgotten that Christmas lights use a whole lot of energy up. Imagine how much energy our city -- if not the planet -- is using up from now until New Years. Someone should do a study. However, I simply cannot imagine how sad it would be if we were told we couldn't have Christmas lights anymore because they weren't eco-friendly. You never know, it could happen some day soon.

With our beautiful trees and restored historical houses here it's ample playground for those beautiful Christmas lights. I've done some very quick web searching and already found some much more eco-friendly lights. Since the holiday season is for giving and sharing, now's the time to share with your family and friends that it's time to think differently about the holiday season, and make it a green holiday.

Tis' time to switch to LED Christmas Lights. Check these out.

They’re 255 times brighter than conventional LEDs, up to 90% more energy-efficient than incandescent lights, and stay cool to the touch even after hours of use. The lights are durable and weatherproof with a strong lens and no fragile filaments, and since each LED lasts up to 200,000 hours, nobody has to worry about trolling through the attic for extra fuses after swilling too much eggnog. Each strand is 24 feet long with 70 LED lights and can be used indoors or out. Multi-colored, $19.95; white $29.95 ::Brookstone MO]
(source)

UPDATE: My wife doesn't like the multi-colored ones. So I quickly did more research. Luckily, there are plenty of varieties available, and they're not all as expensive as the Brookstone one above. Target, for instance, sells some white LED lights and they're only a little more than five bucks.

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Posted at 09:39AM Dec 10, 2006 by cohen in Global Warming
Tags: eco-friendly gifts holiday ideas portland sharing

Dear Mom: My Green Wishlist

Wednesday Nov 22, 2006

Hi Mom,

Here is the green wishlist I promised you. I don't really expect you to get me the solar-powered messenger bag as the Timbuktu bag Sun gave away at JavaOne during Bike to Work week is working just fine.

I understand your anxiety now with such steep eco requirements for Hanukah this year (and every year). I am glad I took the time to create a shopping list for you.

Froogle was pretty buggy and so I don't recommend anyone use it unless they have a lot of patience and time (I was sick in bed). It also doesn't find every gift out there very easily. Neither did Amazon. In fact, I have found the green-wishlist-making chore a big pain. There really is not a good site out there yet to find green gifts. I looked at all the top results in Google, including NRDC, Sierra Club, and an old Wired article. Not much there really.

Then I went to my old standbys - WorldChanging, Treehugger.com, and a few others I am sure. But lo, nothing was satisfactory. I had to do it the hard way, one website at a time, with very specific search criteria such as 'recycled rubber briefcase'. I guess nothing really ever changes. If your mother is like mine and just wants you to tell her what to get you, there's no better way than picking out the gift yourself and making her job that much easier.

There was a good comment though that I did not think of on my previous post that another gift idea are music gift certficates.

Oh, and as for wrapping paper, how about this year use grocery bags or material from packaging that is currently sitting in your recycling bin.

OK, I'll give you a call now, as I don't think you ever read this blog, not yet anyway:)

Love,
Aaron

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