Going GREEN on holiday decorations

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Whether you've been naughty or nice, we've got some advice on making your red, silver and gold decorations... green.

Wayne Lousteau, a manager at Home Depot in Virginia Beach suggests using LED holiday lights instead of the traditional lights, they're much more eco-friendly.

"Traditionally when we looked at Christmas lights they were just like a standard lightbulb, they had an element inside them that would heat up. If we look at lights on Christmas trees these are just scaled down versions of your traditional lightbulb," said Lousteau.

But, in the last few years, technology has really improved with LED lights. "These use atleast 80% less electricity than a traditional string would. They should last you ten years or longer and there's really nothing to burn out on them like a traditional string of bulbs. Also, these don't produce very much heat at all."

Another earth friendly gadget that will also be friendly to your wallet, is the light-sensing timer.

"You can set them to turn off after 2, 4 or 6 hours. If I want them to run until midnight, the timer will turn them off automatically at midnight because you don't need to be lighting the lights up when folks are sleeping," said Lousteau.

And if you're shopping for a Christmas tree its easier than ever to be environmentally conscious.

"As we know, trees are a precioius resource to us and quite frankly using one each year only to dispose of it doesn't really help the environment," said Lousteau. "An artificial tree, while made out of plastic, is going to be something you will have for a good long time, so you are not disposing of any more waste into the landfill."

Lousteau said there are some fantastically real looking artificial Christmas trees these days.

"In fact, we have some that look so much like furs that without touching it, I can't really tell the difference."

But it makes a big difference to the earth... and your bank account.