I thought it was too early for a holiday decorations post, but lights are going up all around my neighborhood.  If you’re planning to let out your inner Griswold this year, here’s what you should know about holiday lights.

The Alliance to Save Energy recommends LED lights:

Be on the cutting edge with light-emitting diode, or LED holiday lights. Each bulb with this new technology uses only 0.04 watts and is up to 90 percent more efficient than its incandescent counterpart. So a household burning 10 strands of lights for eight hours a day for a month at $0.0853 per kilowatt-hour would spend $127.67 for large, incandescent bulbs, $7.20 for traditional mini-lights, and just $0.72 for LEDs. These newer bulbs are sturdy, last up to 100,000 hours, or 20 years, and barely warm up, eliminating fire concerns.

They also recommend the use of a timer, to turn the lights off after most of the neighborhood is sleeping and can no longer enjoy your luminous display.  Limit your light display to a few hours a night for a week or two right around the holidays.  Or get solar powered lights, and leave them up as long as you please.