KITCHEN equipment ENERGY Improvements
The kitchen is often the busiest room in the house, and also the biggest energy user. Refrigeration, kitchen electronics, dishwashing and cooking are major consumers of energy and indirectly a cause of... greenhouse gas emissions.
Controlling what’s going on in our kitchens is important for energy savings.
refrigeration
Refrigerators are high-energy consuming appliances. They run 356 days a year, day and night, and account for about 8% of most household's energy bills.
Replacing old units can provide energy savings of $100 or more per year, but there are other features that you should care about.
See: Refrigerators and Freezers Efficiency
Dishwashing
New dishwashers consume a fraction of the water and energy of older units. But – for significant energy savings – you have also to use your dishwasher in a smart way.
Use full loads and pay attention to the dishwasher thermostat settings, to its energy savings options and to the No-Heat Air-Dry feature…
Kitchen Electronics
Cast a critical eye on kitchen electronics: electric kettles, toasters, coffee machines, coffee grinders, electric deep fryers, food processors, electric juice extractors, electric grills, bread makers, yogurt makers, ice-cream makers, electric knives, electric boilers, and so on.
Some are unquestionably useful, but others aren't. A significant part of these devices aren't really labor-saving, time-saving, environmentally-friendly or useful. And since they are many, they consume a lot more energy than expected.
See: Appliances and Electronics Energy Efficiency Guide
Kitchen hot water heating
Dishwashers and other appliances consume large amounts of hot water. But it hasn't to be so. See: Hot Water Heating Energy Efficiency
Gas or Electric cooking?
If you don’t cook much, electric cooking can be a reasonable or good option; but for those who cook regularly natural gas is better, from an energy-efficiency standpoint.
The use of gas requires direct venting, but when available and normally priced, natural gas is more cost-effective and environmentally-friendly than electricity (unless you are using photovoltaic power).
Energy efficient cooking appliances
Microwave ovens:
Microwave ovens reduce energy consumption by reducing cooking time.
Pans:
Whenever possible use convective pans and copper-bottom pans (instead of regular pans) and glass and ceramic oven pans (instead of metal pans). Energy savings can amount to 20%.
Kitchen Savings & cooking times...
For energy savings in your kitchen, consider…
- defrosting frozen foods before cooking them;
- keeping preheat times to a minimum, when using conventional ovens;
- turning off the oven some minutes before the cooking time is up; the idea is to use the residual heat to finish the dish.
- matching the pan size to the electric cook-top, or the gas flame;
- cooking for several meals, in advance; reheating prepared food involves a fraction of the energy…
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