Christmas Shopping NY LED Lights

Off Fifth Avenue, the Rockefeller tree is the largest Christmas tree I’ve seen in my life. Shopping in New York is jam-packed at the Rockefeller center where the tourists and last-minuet Christmas shoppers wait in lines to get through to see the tree and LED shopping display. I’m overjoyed to see all the people with their families out and about because that is what the Holidays are about. Upon turning around we are captivated by the LED lights choreographed to music. At this point, using LED lights in shopping Christmas displays and campaigns sends a good message, however, LEDs are not affordable to many people. I like what Sonia, over at Wired, has to say about the use of LED lights in the Christmas displays.

Republished via Wired. This past November, when the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree was lit, instead of powering thousands of standard bulbs, 30,000 multicolored LEDs lit up. Ditto tech for the trees in the nation’s capital.

Ten days earlier, Saks Fifth Avenue in New York flipped the switch on 50 giant snowflakes, which were made up of a total of 40,000+ LEDs that use the equivalent in power as three toaster ovens. And when the ball drops in Times Square this New Years Eve (for the 100th time) instead of burning 600 incandescent and halogen bulbs, the ball will hold 9,500 LEDs making it 98 percent more energy-efficient.

It’s a step in the right direction, but we’re still sending 1.9 billion Christmas cards, cutting down 20.8 million Christmas trees, which take up 447,000 acres that could be used to grow food, and generating an extra 25 million tons of trash from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. Bleh.

Happy Holidays!