For the past seven years, the Truckee-Donner Public Utility District has taken old inefficient holiday lights and exchanged them for strands of energy saving bulbs.
The lights would stretch 44 miles from Truckee to South Lake Tahoe.
Conservation Manager Steven Poncelet says the payoff from the exchange program is clear at the height of the tourist season when everybody has the lights on.
“We are reducing energy usage during our peak time and that is always a win-win for the utility and the customer," says Poncelet.
But, Poncelet says demand is declining for the holiday light exchange program because fewer people have old lights to turn in.
The district’s next conservation effort will be is a “smart-strip” being tested by Silicone Valley Power. It turns off appliances automatically and could be ready next year.
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