On average, electricity and gas use creates around a quarter of all carbon emissions from our homes, and with energy prices having dramatically increased, what more can we all be doing to make our kitchens more energy efficient?
Quite a bit seems, and so we thought we’d share a few energy saving tips with you.
1. Choose energy efficient appliances
With so many products on the market, how do you know whether what you’re about to purchase is energy efficient or not? Well, there’s a simple way to do so. It’s always best to look at the appliance’s energy rating. The most efficient will have an A+++, where the lowest will either be an F or G – and the energy saving difference between the two is really quite considerable.
Most new cookers are rated A+ or higher but the same is not true for every appliance. You may even find, for example, that it makes more sense for you replace an older F or G rated fridge or kettle with a newer, more efficient one.
2. Induction hobs over gas or electric
An induction hob works by passing an alternating electric current through its copper coils. If a magnetised pan is then placed on the hob, the magnetic field causes the pan to heat up. Unlike other hob technologies, with an induction hob, it’s the pan, not the hob surface that gets hot. This makes it faster, and therefore more energy efficient to heat food or liquids compared to a gas hob.
They also do not warm the air in the kitchen anywhere near as much as a gas or conventional electric hob – the energy effort is on heating what’s inside the pan.
3. Boiling water taps can be better than a kettle
If you currently boil a kettle at home every day, which lots of people do with working from home, a boiling water tap like Perrin and Rowe are more efficient than a kettle. In fact, Expert Energy have estimated that an instant boiling tap can use up to 50% less energy than a traditional kettle.
If you make a lot of hot drinks, the other thing to consider is water wastage. It’s estimated that 67% of people overfill their kettle with every use, which leads to an astronomical 3500 tonnes of waste CO2 every day. So, if you don’t have a hot water tap, the best advice is to only boil the amount of water you need.
4. Avoid standby where possible
While fridges, fridge-freezers, upright and chest freezers are traditionally the largest single consumers of electricity in the home as they’re always on – you can save energy by turning off other electrical appliances.
Your dishwasher, microwave, washing machine, tumble dryer and electric oven will all eat up electricity when left on standby. It’s a good idea to get into the habit of turning them off at the plug to save energy.
5. Save energy when cooking
Think about how you heat your food. When you’re heating up small amounts of food, a microwave is far more energy efficient than a traditional gas or electric hob.
Another handy tip is to only use the cooking water you need, and boil water in your kettle (or use you hot tap) to get the pan water up to temperature quicker.
Always cover your pots and pans too as the water will boil faster and use up far less energy.
Another thing that we’re all a little guilty of is opening the oven door too often. Every time you do so you waste energy by letting out hot air. If you can, peer through the glass door instead.
This next tip will completely depend on your cooking style. If you like the idea of using an air fryer or slow cooker to save time, you’ll also like how much energy, and therefore money, they can save you too. For context, running an air fryer costs 32p a day (when used for 30 mins) and a slow cooker 38p per day (at 8 hours per day) – versus £1.43 per day to run an oven for two hours.
6. Put your dishwasher on when full
We know it’s tempting to switch on your dishwasher when you’re beginning to run low on plates, but it really is worth waiting for a full load. It’ll make quite a big difference in energy saving. Also, if there’s just two of you living at home, you might decide to have a smaller 45cm dishwasher fitted rather than a standard 60cm one.
7. Turn out the lights
We realise it’s an obvious tip, but kitchen lights are on more than any other lights in the home. That’s why it’s a good idea to opt for LED lightbulbs as they’re far more energy efficient than traditional ones. They also emit less heat, making them ideal for under-cabinet and other kitchen task lighting.
We hope you found this article helpful. Our biggest tip, though, is to introduce some of these ideas into your routine – just making a couple of changes can make a noticeable difference.
