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L.E.D. holiday lights win timely endorsement of
Energy Dept.
By Michael Rubinkam
Associated Press
Consumers can save money on their electricity bills by switching from
traditional Christmas lights to L.E.D. (light-emitting diode) lights, the
government said last week, giving a boost to a suburban Philadelphia
company that holds a patent on the technology. The Department of Energy
report confirmed what Yardley-based Fiber Optic Designs Inc. has been
saying for the last several years: L.E.D. lights last much longer, cost a
lot less to operate, and are much more durable than conventional
Christmas-light sets that frequently malfunction.
"L.E.D. technology is well-suited to this application, and may gradually
replace conventional incandescent lights over time, saving significant
energy and money," the report said. While still a tiny fraction of total
Christmas light sales, L.E.D. lights are becoming more popular. Some
retailers have already sold out this year, and utilities are touting the
benefits of L.E.D. Christmas lighting to their customers. L.E.D. lights
have been used on state Christmas trees in Oregon, Washington and Montana,
while the Long Island Power Authority in New York plans to send a holiday
flyer to nearly 1.1 million customers praising L.E.D. lights as the
"greatest invention in lighting since Edison invented the light bulb!"
In its report, the Energy Department said that, if all conventional
incandescent Christmas lights in the United States were replaced with
L.E.D. lights, annual energy savings would total 2 billion kilowatt-hours
- enough to power almost 200,000 homes for an entire year.
Mike McCabe of the Energy Department's Building Technologies Program said
he expected L.E.D. technology to improve to the point where it can be used
to light homes and offices all year round. L.E.D. technology has been
around for decades, and L.E.D.s are steadily replacing light bulbs in a
variety of devices.
Although L.E.D. Christmas lights have been available for several years,
their popularity was limited because they required batteries or
transformers and couldn't be strung together or used outdoors. Fiber Optic
Designs changed that two years ago by introducing sets that run on
standard alternating current and can be strung together and used indoors
or out.
Jim Bruno, Fiber Optic Designs' vice president, said the company posted a
400 percent gain in sales this year.
In July, the company announced a worldwide licensing agreement with
Holiday Creations Inc., of Littleton, Colo., to speed production.
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Richard Marchant, Manager of Customer Care and Power
Smart for BC Hydro, the local power company in Vancouver, British
Columbia, presents this year’s "Power Smart Excellence Award for
Manufacturing" to (left to right) Jim Bruno, Vice President – Fiber Optic
Designs, David Allen, President – Fiber Optic Designs, and John Hayes III,
Chief Executive Officer – Holiday Creations, Inc. The award is given
annually to the manufacturer that demonstrably helps BC Hydro conserve the
most electricity in the Province of British Columbia. Fiber Optic Designs
developed and patented AC-driven LED (light emitting diode) holiday lights
that save as much as 90 percent of the electricity normally consumed by
traditional incandescent light strings. Holiday Creations manufactures and
markets LED-based holiday lights under license from Fiber Optic Designs.
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