GlenysChristmas Lights Crisis
December 22nd 2008 05:24
I love Christmas lights as much as the next person. In our younger years, mum and dad would take my sisters and I to see streets and sometimes even entire housing estates lit up with blinking, flashing, deliriously rainbow-coloured lights. There was always something so magical about it.
Leaving aside my concerns for the affect such luminescence has on nocturnal creatures, I can't help wondering about the impact of one month of lurid lighting on our energy emissions. Certain LCD lights claim to be more energy efficient than anything you might have tucked away in your cupboards from 10 years ago, but then energy efficiency is a key selling point for many products these days - how can we be sure. Is there an independent Christmas lights inquiry taking care of this sort of thing somewhere? If Christmas lighting does make up a sizeable amount of our annual emissions, will Rudd have to introduce Christmas fees as part of his ETS?
The majority of people don't seem to be concerned about the effect, if any, their lights are having on climate change. Those entering Christmas lighting competitions are more likely to put their winnings towards their electricity bill than they are to put it towards offsetting the environmental costs of their efforts. Perhaps those hoons who demolished Christmas displays in Narre Warren, Victoria weren't drunken yobbos, just rampant greenies?
Lighting shops everywhere are prone to leaving their entire window display on at all hours, on all days. If they don't switch off, why should Christmas lights be a problem? On the other hand, if you want to light your house, why not be traditional and use candles? Oh wait, they emit carbon too. Maybe we should all just sit in the dark?
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Comment by GlenB
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