As the clocks roll back, we’re now officially allowed to embrace the winter months. A staple for the winter months is the constant urge to try and light them up, promoting positivity, happiness and amazement.

Across the World, famous landmarks are illuminated well into the night. But which ones are worth seeing?

We’ve compiled a list of the best and brightest.

1. There is nowhere else to start than the Las Vegas strip. Using a mammoth 8000 megawatts of electricity and costing £960,000 per day to run, the popular Nevada destination is the optimisation of bright lighting. The city shines so brightly at night, that astronauts have claimed to be able to see it from space. The famous MGM hotel in the centre of Las Vegas reportedly pays $100,000 minimum per month just for its electricity bill. To put that in contrast, the average electricity bill for a UK household is £714 a year. That means that you could power a house for 109 years, equivalating to the MGM’s monthly electricity consumption cost.

2. Next on our Global tour of illuminated landmarks is Times Square in New York. The famous square is one of the most iconic and recognisable locations in the World. A concrete jungle full of advertising boards, the Square costs a whopping £19,320 per day to light up. The 55 giant LED displays and other lights across the Square use up 161 megawatts per day. That’s enough power to light up 1.61 million lightbulbs.

3. The Eiffel Tower is next. Built in 1887, it now costs £2640 per day to run, the Paris monument is certainly an impressive sight. 25,000 visitors ascend the tower each day, which is lit up by 20,000 light bulbs. Just back in 2015, the Eiffel Tower was the World’s most popular paid monument with 6.91 million tourists arriving to ascend, and more additionally to catch a glimpse of the focus of the city. The Tower was originally supposed to be built in Barcelona but was turned down by the Spanish government, so it made its home in the French capital where today, it is now estimated to be worth around €400 Billion.

4. The town of Blackpool is a seaside resort on the Irish sea coast of England. Every year, the town decks out the whole town with stacks of lights that shine non-stop for 66 nights, suitably called the Blackpool illuminations. The Blackpool switch-on is one of the biggest in the country, including over a million bulbs emitting 15 megawatts a day. The annual event has been running since 1879 and has been described as one of the best free light shows around the World. Due to the outbreak of WW1 and WW2, the lights were prohibited from being turned on. These are believed to be the only instances that the display hasn’t taken place in its 126-year history.

5. Heading to the luxurious city of Dubai. Now one of the most popular cities in the World, due to its developed megahotels and growing business attraction. Back in 2015, Dubai International Airport was one of the World's busiest airports with roughly 75 million passengers throughout the year. One of Dubai’s main attractions attracts a substantial number of visitors whilst it is still under construction. We’re talking about the Ain Dubai observation wheel located on Blue Waters island. The gigantic Ferris wheel is set to be the biggest in the World at 210m tall, and the capability to carry 1400 passengers at once. This monumental landmark is lit up constantly during the night, producing a whopping 14 megawatts of electricity usage per day and costing £1560 per day to operate. Wow!

6. Finally, we head over to the beautiful island state of Singapore. Located just off the coast of southern Malaysia, it is one of the most interesting and dynamic locations around the Globe. Nothing is more apparent of this fact than the Spectra Light and water show at Marina Bay sands. A simply scintillating display of majestic illusions and aweing visual effects. The show organisers have tried to be as energy efficient as possible by using 470-watt fixtures which produce the same lighting output as 4000-watt search lights. Overall the show cost £300 per day to run and emits 2.5 megawatts per day. To compare that, you could boil a standard kettle 6,000 times to equal the wattage output.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the list of our favourite illuminated landmarks and learnt a few things along the way. The darker nights may have brought an end to our elongated daylight hours, but it enables the World as a collective to embrace the power and tranquillity of light.

Sources:

1. Festive Lights.
2. Business Insider.
3. Great Home.
4. Interesting Engineering.
5. Visit Dubai.
6. Arabian Business.
7. Marina Baysands.
8. Energy UK.
9. Rapid Tables.