Written by ARAcontent
Washington, DC - This year, crews won’t just be trimming the National Christmas Tree, they’ll be trimming the nation’s energy bill, too, with the most energy-efficient holiday display in our national history.
Lit almost entirely by light-emitting diodes called LEDs, the 2008 National Christmas Tree display will be 50 percent more energy efficient than last year’s display. While LEDs were used on the National Tree for the first time in 2007 at the request of the White House, this year’s display saves even more energy by eliminating the lighted garland and making use of smaller, lighter-weight ornaments. 2008 marks the first year that all 56 U.S. state and territory trees will be powered by LED lights donated by GE, for a substantial savings in energy.
"LEDs have become the cool, new technology in lighting, and with good reason," said Kathy Presciano, designer of the National Christmas Tree and lighting designer for GE. "They use a fraction of the energy, and they last 10 times as long as a traditional incandescent light. They worked so well for last year’s National Tree, this year we decided to expand them to the state trees, too," Presciano said.
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This year’s National Tree will carry more than 37,000 individual LED lights, including the topper and the background lights. The 42-inch tall, star-shaped tree topper is an "heirloom" topper used for the last two years. It is outfitted with industrial grade, white GE Tetra LEDs -- a product offering of GE’s LED business, Lumination, LLC. As many as 680, 50-light strings of clear, C5 LEDs will provide a dazzling backdrop to the tree. Each string costs only 14 cents to run for a full four-week holiday season.
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"With LEDs lasting so much longer, we’re carefully taking them off and storing them so we can create an inventory of light resources for the country that will last for years," Presciano said. Last year’s garland, topper, ornaments and multi-colored strings were saved, she noted, and should be rotated back into use in years to come.
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The lighting of the National Christmas Tree is an unbroken tradition that began in 1923 when Calvin Coolidge lit the first tree on the Ellipse. The event is sponsored by the National Park Foundation, official charitable partner of America’s National Parks, and the National Park Service.
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