Offer of free Christmas lights receives artic response

Lots of communities across the country are evaluating their energy consumption. I recently read an article online about Fairbanks, Alaska's efforts to reduce their energy consumption. An article in the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported that the city spent over $800,000 on electricity last year and that nearly all of it was for street lighting. As many of you may know, Fairbanks remains dark for most of the day during the winter so it makes sense that the utility bill would be steep even for a smaller town like Fairbanks.

The city engineer established an energy audit team to try to find solutions to the problem. The team discussed eliminating certain "non-critical" street lights. Others mentioned considering energy-efficient alternatives to the existing lamps. The audit team also stated that they didn't think they could justify putting up Christmas lights this year in consideration of the existing energy problem.

HolidayLEDs.com offered to donate 4 cases of LED Christmas lights to the city so that they could retain the Christmas light display with very little impact on energy consumption. The offer was received well by the Fairbanks community but not by the City's leadership. Mayor Strle, replied to the offer with a firm rebuff: "“The city of Fairbanks isn’t about to be the next poster child for a LED holiday lighting company. Perhaps the Mayor felt embarrassed about the cities' energy issues. She shouldn't feel that way because we are all feeling the energy pinch. To the contrary, she and her staff should be commended for taking action to resolve the problem and shouldn't be weary of accepting a genuine offer of support from a company that whose business is energy-efficient lighting.

The offer and the Mayor's subsequent public rejection has created a lot of controversie in the Fairbanks online community. Hopefully this will not prevent the City from reconsidering the offer.

HolidayLEDs.com responded that the offer was still open and that it would like to donate the lights to the community even if not accepted by the City. The company will solicit suggestions for prospective donees and conduct an online vote if the Mayor does not accept the offer.