‘Tis the Season to Shine Smarter: From Holiday LEDs to Smart Streetlights
CONSERVATION DECEMBER 1, 2025
It’s the season of festive lights. All across the country—trees, rooftops, and street posts are wrapped in a cheerful, electric glow. It’s a beautiful sight, but it also represents a massive, temporary surge in energy demand.
Many of us are already making smarter choices at home to manage this. We’re swapping old incandescent bulbs for efficient LEDs and using timers to ensure the lights are on only when we can enjoy them.
But what if we applied that same "smart" thinking to the lights we use all year round? What if that same spirit of resourcefulness could be scaled up from our homes to our entire city?
5 Smart Holiday Lighting Tips to Shine Smarter at Home
Being resourceful doesn't mean being a Grinch. It just means using technology to get the same festive cheer without wasting energy. Before you deck your halls, here are some simple tips to save energy and money this holiday season.
Make the Switch to LEDs (If You Haven't Already) This is the single biggest impact you can make. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, modern LED holiday lights use up to 92% less energy than old incandescent strands. They’re also safer, as they run cool to the touch, and last up to 25 times longer. That means less time spent hunting for that one burned-out bulb.
Get on a (Smart) Schedule Running your lights 24/7 is the fastest way to waste energy (and annoy your neighbors). A simple outdoor timer is a good start, but a smart plug is even better. By connecting your lights to a smart plug, you can set an automated schedule from your phone, ensuring they turn on at dusk and—most importantly—turn off at bedtime, saving energy while you sleep with a simple piece of tech.
Exploit the "Cool Touch" Safety Factor. A major benefit of LED lights is that they produce very little heat. When decorating indoors, this is a significant safety advantage. You can wrap LED strands around your Christmas tree, wreaths, or garland with much less risk of overheating compared to older, hotter incandescent bulbs.
Maximize Your Connections to Avoid Overloads. Because LED strands draw so little power, you can safely connect many more sets end-to-end without blowing a fuse or overloading an outlet. Check the manufacturer’s label, but you can often connect 10-25 times more LED strands on a single outlet run than with incandescents, simplifying your setup and minimizing extension cord use.
Look for Dimmable or Color-Changing Options. Many high-end LED holiday lights offer advanced features like dimming or color-shifting (RGB). Use this to your advantage: run the lights at full brightness (100%) during early evening hours, and then dim them to 50% after 9 PM. This creates a softer evening look while extending your energy savings even further.
The City-Sized "Lightbulb Moment"
Now, let's zoom out.
Think about the thousands of streetlights in your town. For decades, they’ve been one of a city's largest and most "un-smart" energy costs, often accounting for 25-40% of a city's total energy bill. Most operate just like old holiday lights: they turn on at dusk, burn at 100% power all night, and no one knows a light is out until a citizen calls to complain.
As we explored in our post, Light Bulb Moment, these fixtures are a massive, untapped opportunity. By applying the same "smart" logic from our homes, cities can do more than just save money—they can build a foundation for a safer, more connected future.
A smart streetlight isn't just an LED; it's a sensor-equipped, networked computer. Instead of just burning power, it becomes a "digital canopy" that can:
Dim lights to 30% when no cars or pedestrians are present, then instantly brighten to 100% when motion is detected.
Instantly report outages and performance issues, so crews can fix them proactively.
Measure energy use in real-time, light by light.
Act as a hub for other smart tech, like public Wi-Fi, air quality sensors, or EV charging stations.
This isn't a far-off theory; it's happening right now. Companies like Itron are deploying these Smart Lighting solutions in cities around the world, from Chicago to Copenhagen. They are turning millions of simple light posts into a responsive, intelligent grid, helping cities cut their lighting energy costs by 60% or more.
So this December, as you admire your brilliant (and efficient) holiday LEDs, look up. The future of our cities is hidden in plain sight, in the humble streetlight. The same impulse to be more resourceful at home is the key to powering a brighter—and much smarter—world for all of us, all year long.
To learn more about the technology that makes this possible, see how Itron is helping create more resourceful communities.