Summer Energy Savings for The Kitchen
It doesn’t matter whether you cook meals at home every night or not, your kitchen uses a lot of energy regardless of your cooking habits. The kitchen is a great place to start making your home more energy-efficient, since there are so many ways to reduce your energy use. The Wire is providing you with tips to get started!
Cook Outdoors!
Trying to cook in a hot, steamy kitchen can be unbearable, especially when it’s hot and steamy outside as well. Kitchens are full of heat-producing appliances: ovens and stoves can raise your kitchen’s temperature up to 10º. To save yourself the sweat and higher utility bills you can cook outdoors.
Stop hand washing your dishes.
Did you know that your dishwasher uses less water than washing dishes by hand? You can use nearly 5,000 more gallons of water a year if you hand wash your dishes, as opposed to using an Energy Star® qualified dishwasher*. Let dishes air dry to save even more energy.
Avoid peak energy times.
To save money on your energy bills and to prevent electricity outages, avoid running kitchen appliances during peak hours.
Keep the oven door closed.
No matter how mouthwatering those chocolate chip cookies smell in the oven, keep your oven door closed until you’re ready to remove the food! When you open the door to sneak a peek, the temperature in your oven can drop by approximately 25 degrees Fahrenheit, meaning your oven will have to use more energy to bring the temperature back up once you close the door.
Unplug appliances.
Whether it is a toaster oven, coffee machine or blender, everyone has an appliance or two in the kitchen that they don’t use that much. Make sure you are keeping these appliances unplugged unless you need to use them, otherwise they will waste energy—even if they are turned off.
Install low flow faucets.
Another simple switch you can make in the kitchen is changing your standard faucets to low flow models. These low flow models are inexpensive and easy to install, so this is a simple project that can easily be done on your own. Once you install the new ones, you’ll see up to a 60% decrease in your water usage!
