Using energy efficient appliances in your home not only benefits you and your wallet but additionally your community as lower demand for energy causes less environmental strains. Following are some tips and suggestions for kitchen appliances that can be easily implemented. Additionally, a good reference for choosing home appliances that ranks appliances according to all standards of quality, aesthetic, spatial design, and electricity use is Consumer Reports. For only a small yearly fee, your household could be making more informed decisions about the quality and energy efficiency of all home appliances, cars, and much more.
Refrigerators
Buying a New or Used Refrigerator:
Since a refrigerator is an appliance that will be in your household for many years to come it is important to choose a model that will be energy and thus cost efficient in the long run. This is not an appliance to skimp on quality for. Aside from quality, aesthetic, and spatial design, when looking for a new or used refrigerator, electricity use should be of utmost concern, especially as this is an appliance that will always be in use. You can evaluate the energy use of a potential refrigerator by checking its energy star label. In general a good refrigerator will use less than the minimum federal efficiency standards.
Additional Refrigerator Usage Tips:
- Keep refrigerator and freezer settings at suggested levels rather than ones that are too low. A good range for the fridge is 37 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit and 0 to 5 degrees for the freezer.
- Let hot or warm foods cool down before being placed in the fridge to save energy.
- Fuller refrigerators maintain their cold temperature better than those that are empty
- Make sure door seals are tight to prevent temperature transfer from outside to inside.
- Automatic ice making refrigerators use far larger amounts of energy than traditional ice trays.
Dishwashers
Buying a New or Used Dishwasher:
Also, since dishwashers are long-term use appliances it is important to make an informed decision when purchasing a new or used one for your household. The majority of energy use comes from heating water. When comparing models, the best decision is one that uses the least energy without compromising on efficient water use, aesthetics, quality, and design.
Additional Dishwasher Usage Tips:
- In general, modern dishwashers are more water efficient than hand washing if doing full loads
- Since newer dishwashers are proficient at washing stuck on food, it is usually only necessary to scrape food off of plates instead of rinsing (but obviously use your judgment). The scraping method will save water and your time.
- Completely fill the racks of your dishwasher to optimize water use but do not overload them as this will prevent water from circulating properly.
- If possible, use the air-dry setting to save energy.
Tips For Other Miscellaneous Kitchen Appliances:
Stove/Ovens:
- When boiling water, soups, or liquids, cover pots with tops to make them heat faster and use less energy
- Consider implementing toaster ovens over normal ovens when making smaller meals. Toaster ovens use significantly less energy.
- For stoves that use natural gas, make sure that flames are blue. If flames are yellow, gas is burning inefficiently and needs to be regulated.
Small Appliances:
- When possible, use small appliances to prepare meals and drinks over using stoves or ovens.
- Unplug small appliances when they are not in use to save lots of energy that is otherwise wasted.
