American household Christmas lights, a favorite holiday tradition, use up more electricity than some poorer countries such as El Salvador or Ethiopia, Tanzania, Nepal, and Cambodia.

Bright lights strung on American trees, rooftops and lawns account for 6.63 billion kilowatt hours of electricity consumption each year.  People like flash lights, the bright shiny, anything that attractions your attention a lot better than just the standard solid lights, Greiner said.

But how much electricity are we using displaying them?  According to the Center for Global Development the number seems low.  Christmas shows use just 0.2% of the nation’s yearly use.  That’s 6.6 billion kilowatt hours, but compare that to other countries’ usage the numbers say it all.

According to World Bank El Salvador uses 5.3 billion kilowatts a year to power the entire nation not just Christmas lights.  Tanzania falls right behind using 4.8 billion. The researchers, Todd Moss and Priscilla Agyapong, used data from a 2008 US Department of Energy report and the World Bank to carry out their investigation.

They added that the 6.63 billion kilowatt hours used by US Christmas lights represents only 0.2 percent of yearly US energy consumption, or enough power to run 14 million refrigerators.American household Christmas lights, a favorite holiday tradition, use up more electricity than some poorer countries such as El Salvador or Ethiopia, Tanzania, Nepal, and Cambodia.

Bright lights strung on American trees, rooftops and lawns account for 6.63 billion kilowatt hours of electricity consumption each year. People like flash lights, the bright shiny, anything that attractions your attention a lot better than just the standard solid lights, Greiner said.

But how much electricity are we using displaying them?  According to the Center for Global Development the number seems low.  Christmas shows use just 0.2% of the nation’s yearly use.  That’s 6.6 billion kilowatt hours, but compare that to other countries’ usage the numbers say it all.

According to World Bank El Salvador uses 5.3 billion kilowatts a year to power the entire nation not just Christmas lights.  Tanzania falls right behind using 4.8 billion.

The researchers, Todd Moss and Priscilla Agyapong, used data from a 2008 US Department of Energy report and the World Bank to carry out their investigation.

They added that the 6.63 billion kilowatt hours used by US Christmas lights represents only 0.2 percent of yearly US energy consumption, or enough power to run 14 million refrigerators.