Christmas Lights - Tips To Protect The Home And The Budget

Christmas lights are essential to create a warm atmosphere this holiday season. Few parents dare to say no when the kids want to adopt a giant tree - with all the fairy lights you need to cover it, the glowing reindeer, the flashing Santa Claus for the aisle and the yards of garland to light up the facade.

But after reflection, you tell yourself that such installations surely have an economic impact. And you're right ! Especially since they risk overloading your electrical installation. But rest assured, it is quite possible to enjoy beautiful light decorations without exploding your bill and above all… protecting your home.

Christmas lights: what precautions to secure your home before the holidays?

To avoid seeing your tree (or worse, your house) go up in smoke, checking and securing your electrical installation is essential before Christmas. Indeed, with the various decorative lights, electric garlands and devices to prepare delicious Christmas meals, you will surely overload your electrical installation.

Call an electrician for safety before Christmas

To avoid accumulating extension cords on extension cords, you can embark on a small electrical project to optimize safety. You will have to add a few sockets in order to serenely plug in all your Christmas lights, indoor and outdoor. In order to do everything in compliance with safety standards, in particular the NFC 15-100 standard, it is essential to call on an electrical professional. Know that you can get a precise rate from your electrician in a few clicks to plan everything in advance during this holiday season.

An electrician to secure the electrical panel

It is essential to make the electrical panel safe before plugging everything in to avoid accidents. As a reminder, it is the dashboard that will distribute electricity throughout the house and ensure your safety. It must therefore meet very strict standards. This is the reason why it is imperative to call a professional electrician. It will check and possibly upgrade the various components of the dashboard, namely:

• The general electrical circuit breaker,
• The electric load shedder,
• The surge arrester,
• The differential electric circuit breaker,
• The differential switch,
• The off-peak hours contactor.

Are Christmas lights driving up consumption?

The Ademe (Ecological Transition Agency) carried out a study on the energy impact of Christmas lights. According to this study, Christmas lights lead to significant consumption, estimated at 75 GWh / year, which is equivalent to CO2 emissions of around 10,000 tonnes per year! Alarming figures both from an ecological and economic point of view.

How to calculate the consumption of lighting installations?

To calculate your consumption during the Christmas period, you can simply ask the electrician who will come to secure your electrical installation. But in the meantime, you can make the estimate yourself through a fairly simple calculation.

Take one by one the boxes of fairy lights and other electrical decorations that you want to use. Consumption is expressed in Watts (W). You will also need to view your electricity bill to see the average cost of electricity expressed in Kilowatt-hours or kWh (note: 1 kWh = 1000 Wh).

More concretely…

Take the example of an 8 Wh string of lights (that is, it will consume 8 W in 1 hour. So if you leave it on for 8 hours a day for 20 days, consumption over this Christmas period will be 160 hours in total, which gives a total consumption of 1280 Wh.

To get the corresponding sum, divide the consumption by 1000 (for our example: 1280 Wh / 1000 = 1.28 kWh), then multiply it by the price per kWh that you will find in your last bill.

How to reduce the consumption of your Christmas lights?

Don't panic, all of this doesn't mean you should part with your fairy lights and light decorations forever! Indeed, there are currently decorations and garlands without lighting, or which are equipped with very low energy bulbs. Here are our tips for lighting your home in a more ecological and economical way.

Learn to decorate differently

To decorate your tree and the whole house in a greener way, you can simply make your own garlands without illuminations. Make way for creativity! Spend a few hours making your decorations with family and friends to have a wonderful time.

You can also opt for eco-friendly DIY garlands, those made from recycled or salvaged materials, for example. By opting for quality garlands, you will have sturdy decorations that will pass through the generations.

LED Christmas lights

We know you want to be eco-responsible and reduce your expenses, but with a little light anyway! Be aware that LED lights are very energy efficient.

LED is truly the most economical bulb there is. Indeed, it consumes up to 35 times less energy than a traditional bulb. Fortunately, most Christmas lights today are equipped with LED bulbs! In addition, its lifespan is 100 times longer than that of incandescent bulbs. You will keep the same string lights so you won't spend a dime for years to come. Something to please your wallet and the planet!

Solar garlands

Even better than LED bulbs, solar garlands allow you to combine economy, ecology and decoration. These are bright outdoor decorations that have small solar panels and their own batteries. You will be able to enjoy your night lights without feeling guilty! In addition, they do not need to be plugged into your electrical circuit, which reduces the risk of accidents. It is the ideal solution if you dream of a brighter exterior than ever.

Turn off your garlands every now and then

It is true that the illuminations are beautiful, but at some point, you have to turn them off! When you go to sleep, don't forget to turn off the power because there will simply be no one to admire them. This will save you money and preserve the life of your Christmas lights.