Flagstaff resident Norma Fife chooses sets of LED Christmas lights for trade-in at HomeCo ACE Hardware. The program, created by the City of Flagstaff, lets residents trade in old lights for new, energy-saving LED lights for savings of $6 and reduces energy consumption by 90 percent. Bryan Kinkade / The Lumberjack

In an effort to make Flagstaff more efficient when it comes to the use of electricity, the Flagstaff Sustainability Program is pairing with HomCo ACE to sponsor its second-annual holiday light swap.

The promotion allows city residents to bring in their old holiday lighting and trade-in for a discount on more efficient LED lights that utilize less electricity. With the exchange, the LED strands will be marked down to $4 plus tax.

Lucy Hoffman, a sustainability assistant for the Flagstaff Sustainability Program, said the swap is an opportunity that offers benefits to both the community and the consumer.

“We’re partnering with HomCo ACE, and the city has purchased many boxes of LED [holiday] lights,” Hoffman said.
“So essentially, starting on Nov. 17th, anyone can go into HomCo ACE, and they can bring up to four strands of traditional, incandescent lights and swap them out for LED holiday lights that use about 90 percent less energy than traditional lights. They will pay only $4 plus tax for a strand — they usually cost $10 — so it’s a good, economic price.”

Hoffman also said there is hope the initiative can aid Flagstaff businesses if it is as popular as last year’s promotion.

“It helps people save on their utility bills, which gives them money to pump into the local economy,” Hoffman said. “We had a very popular response from the community [during the first annual LED holiday light swap], and it is because of that popular response we upped the number of boxes we have bought.”

This year, Hoffman said she anticipates the event attracting even more Flagstaff residents.

“We have already gotten a lot of phone calls about it, so it seems that people are getting pretty excited about it,” Hoffman said.

Lewis Palmer, an assistant retail manager at HomCo ACE, said the turn-out for the swap at the store was strong, with 60 strands being sold over the first few hours the offer was available. He said while there was a set date for the offer to come to an end, he is expecting the store to run out of strands before that date.

“We’re anticipating this to go until we run out,” Palmer said.

According to Palmer, ACE will not make any significant money from this offer.

“We’re really not making anything profitable off this,” Palmer said. “We definitely want to be one of the leaders in Flagstaff in the sustainability trend.”

John Wright, a HomCo ACE contractor in sales, said the energy saved by having people swap their holiday lights to LED is significant.

“The main advantage is that the energy savings are tremendous compared to incandescent bulbs,” Wright said. “They are about eight times as efficient, energy-wise.”

Wright said ACE, which is located at 1763 E Butler Ave., decided to partner with the Flagstaff Sustainability Program as part of an effort to make Flagstaff a more energy-conserving city.

“We thought it would be helpful to the community and to the city,” Wright said. “Just to get the old and inefficient lighting out, to give people an opportunity to upgrade to newer, and more efficient lighting.”

Wright said the impact of the swap goes beyond its small scale.

“Any time you can raise your efficiency and save energy, it is going to be beneficial not only to Flagstaff, but the world,” Wright said.

HomCo Ace Hardware cashier Chassity Carpenter receives sets of old Christmas lights from Flagstaff resident Norma Fife to trade in for new LED lights, which saves 90 percent of energy non-LED lights consume. HomeCo is working with the City of Flagstaff to save residents money through the Flagstaff Sustainability Program. Bryan Kinkade / The Lumberjack