The Kitchen is the highest energy-consuming room of any household it’s where most (if not all) the energy-draining appliances live. Running a Kitchen’s expensive and’s only going to get more costly as energy prices rise. By getting into a few simple habits around the Kitchen, it’s easy to save energy and money, here’s how.
We’ll start with the Kettle the most used appliance in most homes. When making a cup of tea (or coffee) only fill the kettle with the exact amount of water you need, it’s pointless filling a kettle with enough water for 4 cups when your only making 2 cups, which sounds obvious but many people overfill using more electricity that’s needed. When cooking with pans always boil the water in the kettle first rather than heating the water in the pan, it’s quicker and consumes less energy, and again only boil the exact water you need.
Although there’s nothing quite like proper oven home-cooked Electrical food ovens and hobs use a lot of energy microwaves use far less energy up to 80% in some instances so are far cheaper to run some microwaves are five times cheaper to run than electric ovens. Whenever possible use your microwave instead of the hob or oven.
When buying new appliances, always buy the highest energy rating appliance you can afford. Old appliances use a lot of energy compared to modern energy-efficient appliances so it might be time for an upgrade. When using the washing machine and tumble dryer (the most significant energy drainers) make sure the loads are always full and wash and dry on the lowest temperatures you can. Kinder on your clothes and energy bill, when it’s a sunny or dry and windy day put your washing out on the line and get it dried for free.
When you have finished with your appliances always switch them off (at the wall if possible) never leave them on standby.
Keep your fridge and freezer full, which reduces air space, meaning they don’t have to work as hard, ensure there’s still space for airflow. Defrost regularly and make sure there’s a gap between the backs of the appliances and the wall, this will allow warm air to escape. Don’t leave doors open and don’t put any warm food in the fridge or freezer, allow it to cool first. Follow these steps and the fridge and freezer ill run at maximal energy efficiency.
Modern energy-efficient dishwashers use less water than washing plates and cutlery by hand, so if you haven’t got a dishwasher you might want to think about getting one, it’ll save time and hot water paying for itself eventually. Dripping taps wastewater, dripping hot taps waste hot water that you have paid to heat. Dripping taps are cheap and easy to fix so get them sorted otherwise money’s dripping down the drain.