The Best Holiday Light Show, Part Two

Well, it took a little bit of sleuthing, but a friend helped me track down the back story on the Holiday Light Show video we posted a couple weeks ago.

This Christmas light display is produced each year by Richard Holdman,  a professional lighting contractor who creates unique animated and static lighting setups year-round for a variety of commercial and consumer purposes.

Not only is the display quite beautiful, but Goldman uses it to collect funds for the Utah Make-a-Wish foundation to enrich the lives of children with life-threatening medical conditions. The 2009 holiday light show has already raised more than $5000 in donations to grant this year’s wish; his display raised more than $10,000 in 2007, and nearly $4500 in 2008.

This holiday light show is Goldman’s labor of love, and he dedicated more than 250 hours into the initial development, programming, and construction. Each year it takes about 100 hours to set up the display. Goldman’s holiday light display includes around 150,000 lights, transferred from 21 dedicated grounded circuits by nearly 7000 feet of extension cords. The red, green, and white sequencing is programmed using software and hardware from Light-O-Rama. The display for 2006 used 80 different channels, 2007 was 176 channels, and for 2008 it used 215 channels. The music to which the lights are synchronized is broadcast on a short-range FM signal, so viewers can listen from within their cars. They also have speakers outside so pedestrians can enjoy the music as well.

Carol of the Bells – 2008 Holdman Christmas Display from Richard Holdman on Vimeo.

While many might consider such a display to be a waste of energy, according to Goldman, the display is actually 100% wind-powered! Goldman uses electricity provided by his local power company, and then replaces the power back onto the grid with Wind Turbines using a service provided by www.renewablechoice.com – Goldman says his display consumes about 1800kwh; he covers that use by sending 3000kwh back to the power grid.

If you’re curious about the actual electrical consumption, Goldman says that “if everything was on, it would consume about 33,000 watts or 300 amps.”  However, because of the animated program, most of the time only 30% of the display is actually on, which helps conserve power. Ironically, many smaller displays actually use more power than this one, because all their lights are always “on.” Goldman says his Christmas light display uses about $200 worth of electricity for the season — which is less than running the air conditioning in the summer.

The original video we posted was filmed two years ago when it was installed on Goldman’s home. However, because he lived in a private, gated, community, his neighbors objected to having the gates open and allowing strangers inside their neighborhood, so in 2008 Goldman moved the display to a strip of wooded land near his parents’ home in Linden, Utah.

To help reduce traffic between now and Christmas, the display is only running three songs though after Christmas he will go back up to the full six-song display until New Year’s. If you’re able to make the drive, you still have several days left to see it in person.

Happy Holidays from all of us at eCycleGroup.com!

Tags: Alternate Fuels/Energies, christmas, EcoFriendly Alternatives, Electric, Motivational, Video