This holiday season, EEI and our member companies encourage you to stay safe and to use energy wisely, starting with your holiday lighting. 

While shopping for holiday decorations, remember that holiday lighting options differ in more ways than just style—they vary widely in their energy usage and cost to operate. 

Light emitting diode (LED) lights offer the most energy-efficient and cost-effective way to light up your home this holiday season. LEDs create light without using a filament, which means they produce very little heat, increasing their energy savings, safety, and longevity. Along with offering the lowest operating costs, LED lights also save money by offering the longest operating life. LED lights typically are rated at 20,000 hours or more, and as high as 60,000 hours, which means they will last for many holiday seasons to come. 

An easy way to know if your decorative lights are energy-efficient is to look for an ENERGY STAR® certification. Lights that are ENERGY STAR-certified use up to 75 percent less energy than conventional lights. Visit ENERGY STAR's website for more lighting information. 

Along with energy efficiency, safety is another factor to consider when using holiday lighting. Following are safety tips for using both indoor and outdoor lights:

General Safety Tips 

• Always inspect your lights before decorating, even if they worked effectively last year. Throw away lights that have frayed wires, damaged sockets, or cracked or missing insulation. 
• Make sure that holiday lights carry the seal of approval of a recognized safety-testing laboratory, such as Underwriters Laboratories (UL). Indoor-use only light strings are marked with the UL's green holographic label, and light strings for indoor and outdoor use have the UL's red holographic label. 
• Never connect more than three strings of incandescent lights together.
• Turn off decorative lights before you go to bed or leave home. You can also use a timer for turning the lights on and off (make sure that the time is compatible with the types of light bulbs you are using).

Outdoor Lighting Safety Tips

• Before you hang lights along your roof or in trees, be sure to survey the area for overhead power lines and maintain at least a 10-foot distance.
• Keep all electrical connections off the ground, and hang sockets downward to prevent water from seeping into them.
• Do not run electrical cords through door or window openings where they can be damaged. For added protection, plug outdoor lights and decorations into outlets protected by ground fault circuit interrupters.

Indoor Lighting Safety Tips

• Keep lights away from carpeting, furniture, and drapes.
• Make sure household smoke detectors are working properly.
• Avoid running cords under rugs, through doorways, or near furniture where they may be stepped on, tripped over, or broken.
• Water your Christmas tree daily so it doesn't dry out and become a fire hazard.

For more on staying safe while using holiday lights, visit the Electrical Safety Foundation International's website.