Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson has a fully trimmed Christmas tree in his front office.

It's set up right next to the Salvation Army donation kettle, which Anderson added at the request of the low-income charity.

The tree adds more than Christmas spirit to City Hall. It also illustrates the latest example of Anderson's internationally recognized environmental initiatives, among which include urging municipalities to switch their traffic lights to LED light technology that uses less energy, lasts longer and cost less in the long run.

Anderson has taken that particular initiative further than switching just Salt Lake City's traffic lights to LED technology. The mayor's Christmas tree is also decked out in LED lights, something he encourages all residents to do.

"That's just how the office is run," Lisa Romney, Anderson's environmental adviser, said. "I walked into the room where our copy machines are one day, and all the paper was recycled paper. I walked by the Christmas tree and said, 'Those are LED Christmas lights.' The whole ethic in City Hall is changing and it's fantastic to see."

The Associated Press reported that LED lights make up just a fraction of all Christmas light sales. But change, if slow, is coming. The Web site www.shoppingblog.com enthusiastically reported "2005 may be the year that LED Christmas lights catch on."

Another site, www.treehugger.com, encourages readers to "tell your festive friends they can save energy and money by switching over to LED Christmas lights. They're 255 times brighter than conventional LEDs, up to 90 percent more energy-efficient than incandescent lights and stay cool to the touch even after hours of use . . . since each LED lasts up to 200,000 hours, nobody has to worry about searching the attic for extra lights."

The energy saving decoration is catching in the Salt Lake Valley. In Salt Lake City, LED lights can be hard to find, especially this close to Christmas.

LED Christmas lights are just the latest of Anderson's many environmental initiatives dubbed Salt Lake City Green — possibly the most comprehensive municipal environmental program in the United States.