Happy, Safe, (Energy-Efficient) Holidays!
Posted by TribalVision Admin on Thu, Dec 01, 2011
With Thanksgiving behind us, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas (and Hanukkah, and Kwanza, and time to go check out that big tree at Rockefeller Plaza). One thing all of these events have in common (besides the trip to NYC) is that they often come with temporary changes to your home.
Many people celebrate winter holidays in part by stringing their homes with exterior light
displays, decorating and lighting indoor trees, burning candles, enhancing their homes with plants and decorations, stationing lights in windows, or all of the above. So, now that you’ve winterized your home, let’s talk a bit about holiday safety and energy consumption.
Light It Up (Safely!)
When hanging holiday lights on your home’s exterior, always practice proper ladder safety: have a partner on the ground, use a sturdy ladder, never over-reach, and always stay at least one rung down from the top. Also, remember not to use your gutters or gutter guards as handrails, as you may loosen or shift them, negatively impacting their function. When lighting an interior tree, keep the same concepts in mind: use the right height of ladder for the job (if needed), work in teams, and find stable handholds (think walls, not drapes).
When lighting candles, whether throughout your home or in a menorah or kinara, always keep fire safety in mind. This is a great time of year to double check your fire extinguishers (or buy some!) and have them serviced if needed. Also, extinguish all candles before going to bed or leaving the house. In the case of ritual candles that should not be blown out, such as those used in a menorah, be aware of the burn time so your candles will have burned out before you leave for an evening out or go to bed.
Save Energy And Money
Winter is a great time of year for using your fireplace. Once you’ve prepared it for the season, using a fireplace can help reduce your energy consumption and costs by helping warm parts of your home (just be careful not to hang stockings and other decorative items too close to the heat). Interior and exterior holiday lights, however, are energy drains. So it’s important to think before you purchase holiday lights, and also important to use them wisely.
First, keep in mind that there are energy-efficient Christmas lights on the market, including LEDs. If you plan to use your lights year after year, these are a great investment that will save you money in the long run by decreasing your energy usage. Second, consider lighting up your home for shorter periods. For example, instead of running your Christmas lights every night from Thanksgiving to Christmas, you may want to wait until the second week of December to start sharing your display. As well, keep your lights off until it’s fully dark out, and turn them off by 10 p.m. Putting your lights on an automatic timer is another great way to save energy, particularly if you’re prone to forgetting to shut them off before bed.
Fun Tip: You can calculate your holiday energy consumption with an online calculator!
