Are Christmas lights a threat to our national security?

Hmmm, food for thought. But even so, I doubt people will stop decorating anytime soon.

Maybe…but they’re so pretty : )

Consider who makes those bulbs and how much people spend each year buying them – how much money is being given to these countries in all ways combined?

With the combined energy of running the Fluther servers and all of us using it, Fluther should be closed (and destroyed) effective immediately.

It’s the only way to be safe.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but our electrical power grid is fueled by hydro, coal, wind, nuclear and solar, which are all produced in the US.

If I were to point a finger, though and in any case, I would start with US energy policy.

@richardhenry: Safe, bored, and pondering things all on our own. :’(

Thanks @kevbo that was my thought too.

I really like the idea of using our national security interests as an excuse to extinguish the Christmas lights this year. I mean no climbing on the roof, stapling my fingers. unraveling strings, sounds very tempting. In the interest of keeping our country safe and cutting back on our energy dependence I am willing to forgo the lights this year.

Keep the Fluther servers, I’ll sacrifice my Christmas display. That’s not really my display, I found it on google.

@Kebvo. According to this, roughly 20% of electricity is generated by natural gas and oil powered plants (mostly from natural gas).

We’re more likely giving money to China (for manufacturing the lights) and the folks in Appalachia (for mining the coal burned to make electricity) than to the Middle East for this one.

It’s more coal than anything else.

@Shilolo, keep the info coming, more amo to make my case against doing this again this year. That’s not really my display either, I found it on google too.

Actually I think this is a great point. I am pretty sure that many of the folks who go way over the top with lights this time of year are the very same folks who lament our dependence on foreign countries for oil or any other kinds of energy. I wonder how a super decorator would respond to this question.

Hey wait a second, it seems you guys import natural gas from Canada and it provided 19% of energy back in 2003… keep those lights going! :)
And wow, no kidding America declined ratifying the Kyoto Protocol – look at how much coal is mined and used, coal is such a dirty polluting energy source. If only nuclear power didn’t still have its reputation from when it was a baby… If anyone’s interested in how we do things here in Canada. 50% of our needs are provided by three nuclear reactor stations which can produce 14,000MW combined. Nice.

Plus, the grid usage is an oversimplification. Coal is overwhelmingly the greatest source of electricity in the US. However, the coal has to be mined and transported somehow, typically with gas and/or diesel powered machines, trucks and trains.

Maybe we should invent strings of colored compact fluorescents. That way we could increase the brightness sevenfold without increasing consumption.

Apparently, there are LED lights that are much more energy efficient.

LEDs are probably the most energy efficient light

I just replaced the 30W bulb in the lamp on my desk with a 0.90W multi-LED bulb. I can’t tell the difference, and it’s 1/30th of the energy consumption.

Money can buy gas, oil, gasoline, coal, electricity, etc. etc. but it cannot buy morale. If Christmas lights boost the morale of Americans at this time, then I say “light ‘em if you got ‘em!”

No data on this, but I’d bet that if all of us would lower our household thermostats by one degree during December we could save way more electricity that all the Christmas lights consume. Might be able to reach that level of savings by just powering off our computers, routers, printers, scanners, etc. each night….

BTW, OLED lighting panels may make LEDs obsolete before they really get off the ground. Check out this article on Science Daily:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081028132300.htm

I LOVE OLEDS! OMG!

Everytime i hear about OLEDs i think about the optimus maximus keyboard
i wish i had enough money to blow to get one of them :( something about $1600 for a keyboard just doesnt sound reasonable

Don’t bother uberbatman, from all I’ve heard and read, the first editions of the keyboards are way overpriced and suck so bad, not only in picture on key quality, but overall keyboard quality itself. Wait until they get into second or third generation ones, when they drop the price down to reasonable levels. And this is coming from someone who really really thought about buying the 3 key set.

Meh. I think we have more important things to worry about than Christmas lights. Plus, as augustlan pointed out, they are so pretty ! Personally, we don’t put up any lights due to the laziness factor but we do like to drive down the neighborhood the week before Xmas. What does bug me is how long people keep the lights on. You really only need lights for the week of Xmas. Anything before or after is a waste of resources IMO. I say, keep them lit week of Xmas and then perhaps New Years Eve.

i can help you with all LED Qs. I am an expert :D

@dynamicduo yeaaa i read similar, its a shame because it looked so awesome. Not that id drop that kind of money anyway. Just the idea of a keyboard that can change with the press of a button is just awesome.

@PnL do you know a good way to figure out pos and neg leads on a power supply?

Ehh, if you ask me, the energy expenditure would probably be pretty trivial. There are some things I just can’t be arsed about.