U.S. Christmas Lights Consume More Electricity Than Entire Countries Do in a Year

U.S. Christmas Lights Consume More Electricity Than Entire Countries Do in a Year

'Tis the season.

http://www.usnews.com/dims4/USNEWS/1...-editorial.jpgPresident Obama lights this year's energy-sucking National Christmas Tree.

By Rachel DickerDec. 24, 2015, at 12:35 p.m.

'Tis the season to be jolly – and also, apparently, to be energy-guzzling waste mongers.

U.S. holiday lights use up more electricity than some countries do in an entire year, according to Phys.org and a recent blog post by the Center for Global Development.

[READ: 10 Ways the Government Flushed Your Money Down the Toilet in 2015]

A 2008 study for the U.S. Department of Energy found festive holiday lights consume 6.63 billion kilowatt hours of electricity every year, per the center.

Compare that with the electricity consumption of developing countries: El Salvador uses 5.35 billion kilowatt hours, while Ethiopia consumes 5.30 billion and Tanzania 4.81 billion, according to the center.

What's more, that large amount of energy the U.S. uses on holiday lights? It only represents 0.2 percent of the country's yearly consumption.

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