Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Are your Christmas light strings lead-free?

Generally, yes. Some manufacturers use lead as a stabilizer in the wire. We don’t sell those products; however, we have had many questions on the subject and you should bear in mind the following:

• RoHS (Reduction of Hazardous Substances) is a standard for maximum content of lead and other substances. The only substance that is typically relevant to Christmas lights is lead. RoHS is a “self-certified” mark. There is no agency that issues a RoHS number or certificate. If the manufacturer says a product complies with RoHS, you are relying on their representation.

• “Lead-free” means literally “not one atom of lead.” Lead is a common element that is found in low concentrations in many places, such as in dust, trucks, airplanes and so forth. When we say “lead-free” we mean that there is virtually no lead in the strings. When Christmas lights are made, they either have fairly high concentrations of lead or virtually no lead. There is, to our knowledge, nothing in between. If your shipment of RoHS strings picked up a few atoms of lead in the FedEx truck, we can’t help it and you shouldn’t worry about it.

• Some of our lights are marked RoHS and some aren’t, but we believe they were all made without lead. The reason some are not marked RoHS is because they were made before we realized some people cared a lot about lead. Marking the packaging or tagging the strings in all our warehouses is cost prohibitive.

• Some of our Holiday Creations lights have California Prop 65 warning tags on them that state that the strings may contain chemicals known by the state of California to cause cancer or other bad things. We have always taken the position that, given what the strings actually contain, there is no requirement to provide the Prop 65 warning, and that it needlessly worries consumers and confuses them. Holiday Creations continued to apply the Prop 65 labels anyway due to an abundance of caution. The strings don’t need Prop 65 warnings and they were not made with lead. If you don’t like that, we have a lot of products that weren’t made by Holiday Creations/Diogen and don’t have Prop 65 warnings.

• EnvironmentalLights.com has pioneered the lead-free Christmas lights movement. We responded to the demands of safety-conscious consumers. It took a lot of time to get the lead out for over 500 LED Christmas lights products made in numerous factories. Some of the inventory we are selling is left over from before we began labeling strings RoHS. We will not accept returns of Christmas lights merely because they have a Prop 65 label or don’t have a RoHS label. If we say a product is RoHS on our web site, it will have a RoHS logo on the product page and it should have been marked RoHS at the factory. If we don’t say a Christmas light product is RoHS, it is probably not labeled RoHS, but it should be lead-free anyway.

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Q. How many Christmas light strings can I link in a row?

For our RY series commercial line, 58 strings.

For our retail line, we show it as the "Maximum Overall Length." For example, "Max Overall Length (Met) :90 strings"

Underwriters Laboratories updated its 588 standard to reflect the vastly lower power consumption of LED strings compared to incandescent on February 28, 2008. They susequently updated the standard to allow 216 watts per branch, up from 210.

Old standard (pre 2/28/2008):

3 strings maximum

New standard:

For the retail line, 22 gauge wire, 216 watts maximum.  Divide 216 watts by the watts per string to get the maximum number of strings you can link.

Example: a string uses 2.4 watts. 216/2.4 = 90 strings maximum linkable.

If you mix different types of LED Christmas lights from our line, just add the wattage of the strings you use, as we show on our site, and be sure you keep the total under 216 watts.

View the complete selection of LED Christmas Lights.

EnvironmentalLights.com sells only LED Christmas lights—no incandescent ones.

DO NOT mix LED and incandescent strings. Incandescent strings consume so much more power that 3 strings remains the typical safety limit. Mixing incandescent strings with LED ones is likely to cause you to accidentally overload your circuit.

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Q. How many feet of string does my tree require?

Decorating Christmas trees is an art, not a science. There is no single correct answer to this question. This is how many feet of LED Christmas lights we recommend for a given height of tree.

Remember, your tree will look very nice if you use half as many lights as this. It will look even nicer if you use twice as much as the numbers below.

tree height	string length
(feet)	(feet)
4	60
5	80
6	110
7	130
8	160
9	200
10	225
15	410
20	640
30	1,200
40	1,800
60	3,300

Merry Christmas!

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Q. Can I use LED Christmas lights year-round?

The warranty (we post both retail and commercial warranties on our site) is voided if you leave up more than 90 days; however, people use them for year-round decoration anyway. Here’s the logic for 90 days: trees are living things that grow and get blown around. Some people think they can just put the strings up and forget them for a long time, but that is unrealistic. At some point, they get pulled apart or damaged. Also, when used outdoors or near a window, the sun’s UV rays will eat the plastic insulation on the strings’ wires, just like any non-LED string, particularly in summer. So you can use them for year-round installations, but they are not warranted for such use. We recommend you check the general condition of your installation every 90 days. Just put it on your calendar. Also the UL588 standard mandates that manufacturers stipulate 90 days maximum installation, so it's really out of our hands.

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Q. Does anyone make Christmas lights in America?

No. To our knowledge, there has not been a production run of Christmas lights made in America in many years. Making Christmas lights involves a lot of low-skilled labor. There is no magic machine to make them. Chinese are willing to work for a couple of dollars a day and Americans aren't. We actually visit the plants where our products are made to ensure they treat their workers well. One thing to remember is that everyone working at EnvironmentalLights.com is American, so when you buy from us, you are "buying American," and you're supporting the families of people right here in America, making attractive wages and benefits. And if you ever find an LED Christmas light string line made in America, please let us know where it's made and we will take an earnest look at adding it to our lineup for the next season. We buy American whenever we can. It's our favorite country!

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Q. What are the main benefits of energy-efficient lighting?

There are several key benefits.

First, it uses a lot less energy per unit of light output.

Second, you'll save money. Energy-efficient lighting lasts a lot longer, so be sure to amortize your bulb costs over the expected life of the bulb. In addition to the cost of the bulb, you should include the cost of the labor to change the bulb. If you have to move retail racks or food preparation equipment, or disassemble a luminaire, or find a ladder or lift, the labor cost to replace a bulb or string of lights can be high. There’s always the risk that the person changing the bulb will break the luminaire or something under it, so a 50,000 hour LED has a big advantage over a 2,000 hour halogen, for example, because the relamping occurs much less frequently. Additionally, there’s a risk the bulb will be dark for a while before being changed. What is the cost to your reputation if your hotel, restaurant or other business has burned out lamps? With long-life bulbs, it just won’t happen as frequently.

Third, since energy-efficient lighting lasts longer, you’ll be generating less trash for our landfills.

Finally, you can feel good about using energy-efficient lighting. You’re being a good corporate or private citizen for conserving energy. Increasingly, people will notice your energy conservation. And that’s great for your reputation.

Energy-efficient lighting just makes sense. Spread the word. What you do makes a difference.

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Q. What are examples of energy-efficient lights?

Fluorescent and Compact Fluorescent ("CF") lights are based on established technologies that provide high luminous efficacy (lumens/watt.) LED’s are rapidly becoming very competitive with fluorescents in many applications, and can achieve innovative color and other effects not obtainable with other technologies. The luminous efficacy of LED’s doubles about every 18 months, according to Haitz' Law, so in a few years, LED’s will be literally everywhere. High-Intensity Discharge lamps can be energy-efficient, especially for large area lighting, like parking lots.

Halogens, a type of improved incandescent lamp, are somewhat energy efficient, but will lose ground to more energy-efficient technologies. They tend to get really hot, too.

Incandescent lights, the ones Thomas Edison commercialized, are obsolescing rapidly. The bulbs are really cheap, but they don’t last long and they consume far too much energy to be competitive except in locations where they are rarely used, such as an attic. They make decent heaters, but you wanted a light, right? Especially if you have to pay for air conditioning to offset the 90% heat output those 19th century relics are throwing off. We sell a few specialty incandescents, but not many. It’s antithetical to our purpose of bringing you the best in energy-efficient lighting. You won’t find the classic A19 white or clear light bulb at EnvironmentalLights.com. Buy an LED or CF instead!

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Q. How much more do I have to pay to use energy-efficient lighting?

The goal is that you actually pay LESS for energy-efficient lighting, including all the cost factors: the bulbs, the cost of replacing the bulbs, and the power.

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Q. What's wrong with incandescent lights?

90% of the energy is used to make heat and 10% is used to make light. That’s a lot of waste. Incandescent lights were invented in the 1800’s. Look around your home and office. How much of the technology you use at work and home is over 100 years old? Probably not very much. LED’s, fluorescents and compact fluorescents are much better than incandescents. We’re here to help you get your lighting up to date with state-of-the-art technology. Give us a call!

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Q. So maybe I save some money with LED's, CFL's and other energy-efficient lights. Does it really help the environment?

YES! Lighting consumes about 22% of the electrical power we use in the U.S. If you specify energy-efficient lighting, it matters. If everybody gets with the program, we’ll need fewer power plants. That means less greenhouse gas emissions, less air pollution, less need for nuclear reactors and fossil fuels and fewer dams for hydro power. What you do matters. Spread the word!

According to www.EnergyStar.gov: If every household in the U.S. replaced one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR® qualified compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL), it would prevent enough pollution to equal removing one million cars from the road.

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Q. But in my state, electricity is really cheap. We don't need energy-efficient lighting here, right?

Wrong. Check your bill carefully. Add in all the surcharges and look at the "marginal" cost of power—the last KW-hour you bought. Frequently that marginal cost is higher than the average cost you’re paying. If you cut your electricity consumption, you’ll probably save more than you think. Our calculator and notes on how to use it can help you figure out whether you’ll save money with energy-efficient lighting. You’ll probably be surprised how much you can save!

Plus, your electricity rates are going to rise, just like the cost of a gallon of gasoline. Finally, wouldn’t you like to help reduce global warming? Choosing energy-efficient lighting is the right thing to do.

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Q. What should I do with the inefficient bulbs I replace with energy-efficient light?

If the bulbs still work, you’ll be tempted to keep them. But remember, the biggest cost of lighting is the energy consumed, not the bulb. Using that old incandescent "heater" in another socket would just transfer the cost somewhere else. If you want to use it in your attic or some other place you rarely light, that might make sense. Otherwise, get rid of it!

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Q. How should I dispose of fluorescent bulbs?

Fluorescent and compact fluorescent lamps often contain mercury, which is really bad for the environment.

The following helpful information was obtained from the www.EnergyStar.gov web site and applies to fluorescent tubes, as well as compact fluorescents:

Follow these guidelines to dispose your CFL properly:

• Like paint, batteries, thermostats, and other hazardous household items, CFLs should be disposed of properly. CFLs contain a very small amount of mercury sealed within the glass tubing. Do not throw CFLs away in your household garbage if better disposal options exist. To find out what to do first check www.earth911.org where you can find disposal options by using your zip code or call 1-877-EARTH-911 for local disposal options. Another option is to check directly with your local waste management agency for recycling options and disposal guidelines in your community. Additional information is available at www.lamprecycle.org. Finally, IKEA stores take back used CFLs, and other retailers are currently exploring take-back programs.

• If your local waste management agency offers no other disposal options except your household garbage, place the CFL in a plastic bag and seal it before putting it in the trash. If your waste agency incinerates its garbage, you should search a wider geographic area for proper disposal options. Never send a CFL or other mercury-containing product to an incinerator.

• ENERGY STAR®-qualified CFLs have a two-year warranty. If the bulb fails within the warranty period, return it to your retailer.

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Q. What are waterproofing ratings or IP codes?

IP codes describe the degrees of protection provided by the enclosures of electrical equipment. Some of our lighting products have IP ratings to enable you to determine where you can use them. Learn more.

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Q. What's the difference between a fixture and a luminaire?

A luminaire is a lighting fixture, specifically:

A complete lighting unit consisting of a lamp or lamps together with the parts designed to distribute the light, to position and protect the lamps and to connect the lamps to the power supply.

A fixture might be a luminaire or a toilet, or a lot of other things. If you want to look and sound like a lighting pro, use "luminaire" and don’t forget the "e" on the end. Frankly, we don’t care what you call them since the only fixtures we sell are lighting fixtures.

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Q. What's the difference between a lamp and bulb?

Not much. Sometimes a "lamp" can mean a fixture that holds a "bulb." We usually call them bulbs, but sometimes we call them lamps. Sorry for any confusion.

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