For many, Thanksgiving week is the official start of holiday celebrations. People shop for gift giving, share family traditions, and decorate homes inside and out with cherished ornaments and new finds. 
 
Concord municipal departments are no different. Festive poinsettias sit on many
employee desks and trees decked out with strings of lights are prominently displayed in lobbies. Concord Light line crews decorated outdoor trees during Thanksgiving week, wrapping poles throughout downtown and West Concord with garland and close to 5,000 lights as part of a decades-old tradition. 
 
In a recent twist on this tradition, Concord Light replaced inefficient incandescent light strings with Energy Star LED (Light Emitting Diode) holiday lights in 2007. They recommend that Concord residents also consider switching to energy-efficient LED holiday lights for indoor and outdoor use. 
 
LED bulbs will help residents save money on their electric bills and help the environment. The bulbs are available in many wattages, sizes, and styles. LED holiday lights do not get hot as traditional incandescent lights do and use up to 95 percent less electricity. They can last from 48,000 to 100,000 hours while an incandescent light bulb has an average lifespan of 1,500 hours according to Energy Star sources. 
 
The average 8-foot Christmas tree with 300 traditional incandescent lights uses 216
kilowatt hours and will cost approximately $33.18 in electricity for the holiday season. With a switch to LED light strings, the same tree would use 6 kilowatt hours and would cost approximately 86 cents for the season. A study conducted by the New York Neighborhood Network says each LED lamp uses only .04 watts per light, and a traditional mini-light bulb uses about .34 watts per bulb.
 
In addition to LED lights, other energy-efficient lighting alternatives include fiber optic and compact fluorescent lights (CFLs). CFLs are available now in candelabra styles and can be used for menorahs and candlesticks; they use about 75 percent less energy than incandescent. 
 
Concord Light reports that while there is a slight increase in peak demand for electricity during the winter season due to holiday lighting (around 30 megawatts in Concord), the greater peak demand occurs during the summer months. By comparison, the peak demand hour for 2010 reached 44.35 megawatts in early July.