BC Hydro wanted to reduce energy consumption over the Christmas holiday period by convincing people to trade in their old energy wasting incandescent Christmas lights for new energy efficient LEDs. The problem is that energy conservation is tough to communicate because it isn’t tangible. When you use less energy you can’t directly see the difference you’re making. This leads to apathy towards saving electricity. So we decided to show people the difference LEDs can make.

In order to convey how energy efficient Christmas LEDs were we designed billboards and transit shelters that each compared a lit string of old lights with the thousands of LEDs you could use for less power.We also created a display featuring a Christmas tree lit with 75 incandescent bulbs. We then invited the public to flick a switch that would divert the energy those 75 bulbs were using into more than 7500 LEDs.For the same amount of power that those old lights were using we were able to light an entire grove of trees in downtown Vancouver.