We Go Green With Our Colorado Christmas Lights

7NEWS Building Shines With Energy-Saving LED Lights

Posted: 11/28/2007
Last Updated: 2000 days ago

Denver's 7 plans to turn their building into a holiday greeting card this season by installing environmentally-friendly decor in the form of thousands of LED bulbs.

The special LED bulbs will light up all of the 7NEWS studios, but with an energy savings of 90 percent and a cost savings of 85 percent over standard incandescent lights.

Denver's 7 teamed up with Christmas Décor by Swingle, who are the experts in Holiday Lighting designs and are leading the way in LED technology. Swingle and Denver's 7 designed a holiday lighting scheme that would both keep the holiday spirit while using less than 10 percent of the energy of normal holiday lights.

7NEWS Chief Meteorologist Mike Nelson flipped the switch on the lighting display at the 7News Studios at Lincoln and Speer during the 10PM news on Tuesday, Nov. 20.

The display will continue into the New Year.

"What better way to celebrate the holidays than to light our building and cut down on energy use? It's a Christmas card to our viewers and to all those who commute by our station," said Denver's 7 Marketing Director, Linda Bayley.

The LED lights have numerous advantages to standard, incandescent lights. Not only are they better for the environment, but LEDs also use less energy and cost less to operate. They are more durable, run much cooler -- reducing fire risk -- last longer and when one light goes out, they all do not go out.

Mike Nelson and 7 NEWS have been exploring many methods of cutting back on energy usage as part of an entire campaign of eco-conscious projects. Mike Nelson and the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) created a solar powered Doppler Radar used by the 24/7 Weather team. This radar is the first of its kind in the world with two large solar arrays built on the radar tower to supply all the energy the radar needs, making the 24/7 Weather Doppler Radar a zero greenhouse gas emitting device. Mike Nelson has been driving a HYBRID automobile for several years and 7NEWS just took delivery of their first HYBRID news vehicle as a prelude for changing over the fleet.

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A Comparison of LED Lights vs. Incandescent Lights:

C9 Replacement Bulbs Incandescent LED

# of C9's (130v/7w) 250.00 250.00

watts per bulb 7.00 1.00

total watts per hour 1,750.00 250.00

kilowatts 1.75 0.2500

hrs of operation daily 10.50 10.50

daily cost to operate 1.18 0.17

days of operation 60.00 60.00

seasonal cost to operate $70.56 $10.08

14.29% Energy Usage of LED's Compared with Incandescent Bulbs