The green grinch
Energy-guzzling Christmas light displays are one holiday tradition that makes this mostly festive blogger cringe. How do you feel about Griswald-esque lawn spectacles?
Mon, Dec 21 2009 at 10:17 AM EST
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Call me what you will — Scrooge, wet blanket, hater, the bah humbuggy blogger who stole Christmas — but holiday scenes like the ones pictured above and below tend to make me think of global warming rather than good tidings; carbon footprints rather than Christmas cheer. Sure, there's an undeniable "wow" factor to a genuine, over-the-top holiday yard display, but for me that "wow" is generally short-lived and overruled by thoughts along the lines of "good lord, I wonder what their electric bill is like?"
Initially, I was going to make this post an extensive photo gallery of “egregiously electricity-wasting holiday light displays” but I thought I’d open it up to you to see what you think about the time-honored holiday tradition of outrageously lit-up houses.
There’s no doubt that homeowners who really go to town when festooning their homes with holiday lights don’t have an environmentally malignant design in mind — it’s all about spreading holiday cheer, snarling traffic, and perhaps a bit of neighborly competitiveness — but when you realize that the electricity consumed by these exterior illumination displays could power a small village for an entire month, a question begs to be asked: “couldn't this be toned down a bit?”
In a recent article published in The Guardian, environmental columnist Lucy Siegle points out that “extravagant light displays” (think of something Griswaldian, not just a couple of strands of twinkling lights wrapped around a front hedge) are responsible for an extra 400 kg (over 880 pounds) of CO2 emissions and add in the ballpark of £75 to £100 (around $120 to $160) to a household electricity bill. Homes with more modest light displays can expect to see something more like a $15 spike in electricity costs.
Yikes. So what do you think? Should merry but extravagant-to-the-point-of-eyesore Christmas light displays be restricted or even totally banned by municipalities? Or are they a sacred tradition that should not be tampered with?
Have you toned down your own home holiday light displays in recent years and switched over to more expensive but energy-efficient (they use 90 percent less energy than incandescent Christmas lights do) and long-lasting (about 50,000 hours) LED Christmas lights? Or have you totally gone the way of non-illuminated Christmas decorations?
I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section. For more on the topic, check out this illuminating post over at Get Energy Smart Now!
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Comments
wjr
12/21/2009 20:51 PM
Amy,
You are going to see a lot more of this sort of comment. Many, many people are tired of being preached to by folks like you. Those of your belief (the Greens) have lied in the referred journals, lied about data manipulation and lied about the raw data.
Are there environmental problems? Yes, for certain. But the driving force that would make all of us poor and living a 19th Century energy consumption life (not so very nice even if you assume the bogus claims of the.... More
A Siegel
12/22/2009 10:21 AM
"Nothing is so obnoxious as a fanatic who believes in a falsehood."
Except, WJR, you are promoting multiple falsehoods here:
1. Cleaning up our energy system, including energy efficiency, will lead to an improved quality of life, not "19th century". The National Academy of Sciences recently reported that the pollution impacts of US burning fossil fuel costs at least $120 billion per year in health impacts -- alone. Our wasteful energy habits make us less competitive.... More
wjr
12/22/2009 15:59 PM
Oh my. Struck a nerve, did I?
There a few reality based things that need to be dealt with in regard to you counter post.
Let's break your first comment up into two parts.
The first is, what amounts to, a delivery argument. No one wants waste of any resource. However, waste occurs for physical reasons. Given our current technology -- i.e. lacking room temperature super conductors -- there is no power grid design that can even approach a fraction of optimum energy transfer..... More
amy
12/21/2009 19:04 PM
the real question is: if you don't believe in global warming and you have no desire to make measurable changes in your life to help combat the real threats that exist to our planet, then why are you reading this blog or this site? have you nowhere else to express your idiotic vitriol? yes, cindy dear, it is totally up to each person to decide what they put on their property and how they use their energy. but if every person had your small brain and bad attitude, then the environment would be.... More
amy
12/21/2009 19:07 PM
when i said that i hoped the green grinch's children were electrocuted, i actually just meant the nasty commenter who wants the author of this post to do something unnatural with a light bulb. my error!
Laura
12/21/2009 18:04 PM
Wow... to everyone posting angry go **** yourself sort of messages, what is it about the idea of possibly saving a little energy that makes you so angry? I agree it is a persons right to put up as many and what ever type of lights they want, but that doesn't necessarily make it a good idea. And for those of you who want to start with the "global warming for sure doesn't exist crap", I seriously doubt you have done enough or even any research to come to that point of veiw. And even, for the.... More
Drill_Thrawl
12/21/2009 22:32 PM
The suggestion that these lights be restricted or totally banned is what set people off. Just another lefty\greeny trying to control other peoples lives.
wjr
12/21/2009 17:25 PM
I doubt that. Really just another arrogant greenie with an enormous sense of guilt about not living in a cold cave.
Go get a life and quit it with the self flagellation.
Rachelle
12/21/2009 16:40 PM
Enter your comments here Go **** yourself with a broken lightbulb.
PG
12/21/2009 16:32 PM
Apparently the Enviro-Nazis haven't educated themselves about the CRU-East Anglia email leak and what it shows - THERE IS NO GLOBAL WARMING. So, I guess we should all curtail our Christmas celebrations and decorations to help combat a problem that doesn't even exist. Insane.
Phil Signet
12/21/2009 17:50 PM
...that worrying about one man's christmas lights is going overboard.
But blanket statements of "global warming doesn't exist" which most likely is based on the email feud between scientist in Britain, is just a really foolish statement.
nancy
12/21/2009 16:16 PM
I more concerned about gasbags like Al Gore & Nancy Pelosi flying to Copenhagen for the afternoon, than some poor guy who likes to put up Christmas lights once a year (and has .oooooooooooo1% of their "carbon footprint")
Cindy
12/21/2009 16:11 PM
I think it's none of your darn business what others choose to do on THEIR property with energy they PAY FOR.
Drill_Thrawl
12/21/2009 16:03 PM
You can have my incadescent c9 lights when you pry them from my cold dead hands!
John
12/21/2009 15:55 PM
Since man-made global warming is total bunk, I say bring on the lights. The more the merrier!
rshreeves
12/21/2009 12:28 PM
Two years ago when the lights around our outside garland went we decided not to replace them. Now we just do a few candles in the windows, a lit wreath on the door and the Christmas tree lights that can be seen through the living room window.
As for replacing regular strings of lights with LED's - I believe they should only be replaced once they go bad. Here's why. If you replace your lights, you can donate your old ones, but then someone else will still be using them. You can throw.... More
