Dreaming of a green Christmas (Sen. Tom Carper)

Tonight, Americans will gather at the White House and around their televisions to watch the 86th lighting of the National Christmas Tree. The lights of the holiday season will be bright this evening, with a Christmas tree that is greener than ever.

When Calvin Coolidge lit the first National Christmas tree in 1923, the 48-foot fir was decorated with 2,500 red, white and green electric bulbs. Today, more than 85 years later, the federal government is the world’s largest single consumer of energy. The decisions our government makes about energy use can have an enormous impact here and across the globe. And, the innovation and technology on display at tonight’s tree lighting ceremony is a vision of what may adorn many more living rooms across the country in just a few short years to come.

Tonight, the 2009 tree will be illuminated with 750 strands of energy efficient LEDs (light emitting diode). While small in size, LEDs have a big impact on energy consumption, making this year’s National Christmas Tree is the most energy efficient in history. Over this holiday season, this tree will consume only 6,000 watts of electricity compared to last year’s 18,000 watts. Moreover, each strand of LED lights will cost only 14 cents to operate for the entire holiday season. And these savings can be enjoyed for years to come because LED light strings last 10 times longer than the traditional bulb sets we have enjoyed in years past.  

Even better, LEDs are break resistant and they love the cold weather. In addition, the lights are fixed into place, so we don’t have to worry about bulbs falling out and half the tree going dark.

Energy conservation is not the only thing making this year’s tanenbaum so green. Old decorations from 1998, 2004, and last year have been taken out of storage and recycled for this year’s tree trimming. In fact, the White House has retrofitted older decorations with the more energy efficient LED technology.

As the federal government and the rest of America try to conserve and save energy this holiday season, I congratulate the First Family for a National Christmas tree that is a shining example of how to have a green holiday!