New York City’s Rockefeller Center continues its annual Christmas tree tradition this year – but with a small twist. Instead of being illuminated with incandescent lights, the 84-foot-tall Norway spruce will be covered this holiday season by 30,000 light-emitting diodes (LEDS), as reported in “LEDs will light up Rockefeller Christmas tree” at CNN.com.
Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of NYC, called the tree “an example of green leadership which may inspire [tourists] to make greener choices in their own lives.” Maybe the Nobel Committee should give Bloomberg a share of Al Gore’s Nobel Prize money. I cannot understand how anyone can glorify an inherently wasteful holiday practice such illuminating holiday lights as “energy efficient” just because the energy is being wasted via LEDs instead of traditional bulbs. Its like prying the solar panels off your roof and burning them in your fireplace to stay warm over the winter! For details of my thoughts on LED holiday lights, see "Do LED Lamps Signal the End of Christmas Magic?"
According to CNN.com, the use of LED lights on the Rockefeller tree equates to a daily “savings” equal to the electricity consumed by a 2,000-square-foot house in a month. Somehow I think they would save even more energy if they just didn’t put the tree up to begin with.
Mayor Bloomberg, if you want to make a real statement to the people in your city and around the world about energy conservation, ban the lighting of Christmas trees (with LEDs, incandescents, candles, or anything else) in New York City.
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