Energy Adviser: LEDs brighten holiday nights

Dazzling holiday lights strung over trees, rooftops, gutters and rhododendrons take us back to childhood. Brightly colored lights illuminate the way for evening walks searching the neighborhood for spectacular light shows, or the more modest displays well done. Holiday lights are changing rapidly, however. The old-fashioned incandescent C9ers that once brightened our lives are fading like the aging Polaroid photos of holidays past. These days, lights are more stylish, durable and cooler. Not only do LEDs come in a greater variety of shapes and sizes, the technology allows more flexibility in design that means a wider selection of bulb sizes, shapes and features than incandescent bulbs ever offered.