Boulder residents lit up–and lined up–at the prospect of swapping their old fashioned, inefficient Christmas lights for super cool LED twinkle lights offered through the city’s Climate Smart program.

Within 45 minutes last night the city had handed out 700 strands of energy efficient Christmas lights, exhausting Climate Smart’s entire supply and forcing them to postpone further exchanges until reinforcements arrive. The city’s ordered an additional 1,000 23-foot strands of LED lights, paid for through the “carbon tax” that Boulder residents voted for last year, making Boulder the first place in the nation to pass a tax to fight global warming. Way to glow!

(The rest of us will have to underwrite our own upgrades to LED twinkle lights, but the good news is that the big box stores are all starting to carry them. Yes, they cost a bit more upfront, but they use only a fraction of the energy required to power conventional twinkle lights. So deck the halls with bulbs of diodes!)