The term "green Christmas" has taken on a new meaning. This year, for the first time, consumers are seriously considering the environmental impact of decorating for the holidays.

Even retailers have been surprised at how quickly the public has embraced Christmas lights that use light-emitting diodes, or LEDs, instead of the traditional incandescent bulbs.

"LED lights are very popular," said Demitra Wilson, spokeswoman for The Home Depot in Atlanta.

The upfront cost is higher, but for many customers, the benefits of LEDs outweigh the sticker price. Wilson said LEDs are 80 percent more efficient than regular Christmas lights.

"According to the U.S. Department of Energy, if everyone replaced their conventional holiday light strings with LEDs, at least 2 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity could be saved in a month," she said. "The savings would be enough to power 200,000 homes for a year."

But even LEDs do consume energy, so homeowners should use them judiciously.

"With all types of lights, we recommend using a timer," said Wilson. "People should just turn them off when they go to bed, but often they forget and leave the lights on all night."

Deborah Barrow, founder of the Web site TheDailyGreen.com, said LEDs skyrocketed from a fringe product to mainstream almost overnight.

"Last year it was hard to find LEDs," she said. "Now they’re widely available."

But Barrow gives thumbs-down to another outdoor decorating product: huge inflatable figurines that must be continuously powered by an electrical fan.

"I have a problem with them, both from the standpoint of energy usage and also the fact that they’re made out of plastic," she said.

Environmentalists say if you really want to be sustainable, plastic is a no-no. And that includes plastic Christmas trees.

"I think natural Christmas trees are the way to go," said Malcolm Hodges, a conservation ecologist with the Georgia chapter of the Nature Conservancy. "But beyond just buying a real tree, you should try to buy from local tree farms, because transporting trees from other parts of the country uses a lot of fossil fuels."

Rick Dungey, spokesman for the National Christmas Tree Association, said North Carolina State University researchers recently calculated how much carbon dioxide — a key contributor to global warming — is pulled out of the atmosphere by America’s 22,000 Christmas-tree farms.

"It’s a total of about 3.3 billion metric tons," he said.

Dungey thinks it’s ridiculous when people argue that those who buy live Christmas trees are "killing trees."

"It’s a crop. It gets replanted," he said. "Saying you shouldn’t cut down trees makes about as much sense as not harvesting corn."

Though it’s true that an artificial tree could be reused for many years, Dungey said, "Eventually they all end up in the landfill, and they never biodegrade."

He said about 85 percent of fake Christmas trees are manufactured in China, and most are made of PVC plastic.

"Plastic, of course, is a petroleum product," he said. "And lead is used in the production of PVCs."

Real Christmas trees form a complete ecological cycle, Dungey said, because many communities collect the used trees and grind them into mulch.

"In most states, it’s illegal to put them in the landfill," he said.

Hodges recommends also using natural greenery for other decorations, such as garlands.

"Stay away from Oriental bittersweet, a highly invasive plant that’s used for wreaths because it has bright red berries," he said. "Its seeds get spread when people throw the wreath out into the woods."

On the other hand, Hodges is in favor of using another invasive plant for holiday decor.

"Kudzu wreaths are great," he said. "You can’t spread kudzu by making things out of the vines."