Great Energy Saving Tips While the kitchen has the well-earned reputation of being the entertainment centre of the home, its status as one of the highest energy draining rooms of the home is no secret either. Between the stove, oven and the dishwasher running during culinary creation and clean up, it’s no wonder that the energy use in this room can add up! Here at The Home Inspection Network we’re committed to providing you with tips to improve the energy savings in your home. Read on for our list of how you can save energy in the kitchen. Baking When it comes to baking, it’s all material. If you’re using ceramic or glass to bake, these materials retain and conduct heat better than metals, so you can reduce the temperature in your oven by 20 C. If you’re baking smaller foods, like a piece of fish for instance, using a smaller appliance such as a toaster oven is definitely the more energy efficient option. You can usually shut your oven off for the last 15 minutes of baking and allow the heat from the oven to finish the job. Also remember to keep your eyes off the prize. Opening your oven door repeatedly results in heat escaping and causes the oven to use more energy to reheat. Make sure your oven door stays closed; your energy bills will thank you. Cooking Take your time. Using or investing in a slow cooker or crockpot as these tools consume much less energy. Putting some elbow grease in could pay off in your pockets. Try using smaller appliance (i.e. a hand mixer) to save energy. You should always make sure that the size of the pan you’re cooking with always matches the size of the burner. Using a small pan on a large burner is not using energy efficiently. Also, don’t underestimate the value of defrosting; your food will take a much shorter time to cook if it has been defrosted first. Cooking Up Energy Savings with our Handy Check-List: Keep the oven door closed! Use smaller appliances for your cooking needs Use elbow grease when you can, whether it means washing the dishes by hand or using a hand-mixer Run the dishwasher only once a day Choose your materials carefully; glassware retains heat more effectively than metal pans, so you can adjust your cooking temperature accordingly Clean Up Be sure to load up your dishwasher throughout the day and run only once cycle at night. If in the market for a dishwasher, consider purchasing one with the Energy Star sticker, which means that it conforms to strict guidelines regarding energy usage. You can even skip the dishwasher altogether. Washing additional items by hand rather than running the dishwasher more than once is cost effective and eco-friendly. You could also install a low flow water fixture to conserve water use as well. There are also general energy saving tips (insert link to energy saving article) that you can adopt in your kitchen to save energy. We’ll bet that knowing you’ve saved money and energy doing it only compounds the rewarding feeling of cooking a delicious meal! homeinspectionnetwork.ca/saving-energy-in-the-kitchen/
Posted on: Fri, 27 Sep 2013 18:18:33 +0000
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