Renewable Green Energy for Christmas: Solar LED Xmas Lights – their advantages

In our previous post we have introduced the Solar LED Christmas lights and have explained how this type of lights can be friendly to the environment by using solar energy, a form of renewable green energy. In this post we will provide the advantages of the Solar LED Xmas lights. The advantages can be summarized below:

1. Simple and easy setup: The solar powered Christmas lights require no power extension cords to be lit and once the LED bulbs are installed at the desired location, their connection to the solar power source is easy. There is no need for unsafe external power plugs and power cords.
2. Free energy: The solar powered Xmas lights use free energy from the sun and there is no need to worry about possible power cuts. Solar energy during the day is stored and used during the night
3. Tax rebates: Where applicable there are state or country tax rebates for the use of renewable green energy. The percentage and degree of the tax rebates varies, but surely it is an incentive for using solar green energy powered Xmas lights.
4. Environmentally friendly: Undoubtedly the solar Xmas lights are environmentally friendly since the energy that they consume does not produce any kind of harmful emissions such as the CO2 and Nitrous oxide emissions. To the contrary the normal electric Xmas lights use energy that is produced from polluting sources.
5. Cost effective solution: the LED bulbs used in the case of Solar LED Xmas lights, last more than the regular incandescent bulbs and the cost /benefit analysis is in favor of the LED bulbs.

Now once you are convinced that Solar LED Xmas lights have more advantages than the regular Xmas lights, you have to identify if they are suitable for use in your geographical area. As we have mentioned Solar powered lights need sufficient solar power to operate. This implies that some geographical areas may be more suited for their use than others.

There are maps and services that can help you to find out the amount of solar energy that is available in your area during the Xmas holiday period. The maps below are solar insolation maps that show the average winter peak sun hours in the USA and the rest of the world. These maps can help you identify is the geographical area you live in, is suitable for the use of solar Xmas lights and to what extent. The month of December is the worst case period for the Northern hemisphere.

Of course one can argue that the Solar Xmas lights have some disadvantages when compared to the normal Xmas lights. The only real disadvantage that solar LED Xmas lights have, is their higher initial cost when compared to the normal Xmas lights but if we analyze the total cost of ownership, TCO, over 5 years this disadvantage becomes an advantage.

In conclusion, we highly recommend where the geographical location permits, the use of the environment friendly Solar Xmas lights powered by the renewable green energy source, the Sun.