Conservation of the planet’s resources starts at home. While it is important to think globaly, it is important to act localy and in our own homes if we wish to make a positive impact on the environment.
Kitchen conservation is not all that hard to understand. There are so many things that we do to the planet and with each action we make we add fuel to the fire. From washing clothes to cleaning fish tanks, if we are not careful, we are adding unhealthy chemicals to the environment, and over-using precious resources including water and energy. Our kitchens have become one of the main places where we carelessly impact our environment.
Saving Energy in The Kitchen
One of the best investments you can make is investing in Energy Star kitchen appliances. The better the appliance, the more you will save on your energy bill, as well as lessening the amount of money that you have to spend on your electric bill each month. These Energy Star rated appliances are manufactured by top name brand manufacturers, such as Maytag, Amana, and Eureka, and come with a variety of useful features. For instance, an Energy Star qualified dishwasher consumes up to 75% less water than a non-Eligible dishwasher and only cost the same amount per year to operate, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
On top of saving money on your Direct Energy electricity bill, an Energy Star certified slow cooker consumes up to thirty percent less electricity than a typical non-Energy Star cooker, and the average household uses around forty-five cents per hour of electricity used to operate a slow cooker, and about 90% less than a conventional oven. These Energy Efficient kitchen appliances also offer many other benefits, such as: they can cook meals quicker, which will keep you from missing work, they are easier to clean, and they consume less time. With these and many other benefits, an Energy Efficient kitchen makes great sense when remodeling your kitchen. To find out what appliances would be the most effective for your home, you can go online to find Energy Star ratings for different types of appliances. This will help you determine which type of Energy Efficient kitchen would be right for your home.
Today’s modern kitchen appliances offer many additional features and benefits. For instance, microwaves now come with very intelligent settings that allow the microwave to heat foods precisely, so that you get perfectly cooked food that is delicious. Ovens have also become much more advanced. Today, it is possible to purchase self-cleaning ovens that eliminate the need to clean the exterior of your ovens manually. Besides all of these appliances, the combination of Energy Efficient home appliances and Energy Star Qualified products offers families and individuals the chance to save both money and energy. To learn more about Energy Efficient home appliances and how they can save you money, feel free to visit EnergyEfficient Appliance Consultants.
Other ways to save energy in the kitchen include energy efficient lighting, cleaning vent hood filters, and planning ahead so you can defrost in the refrigerator as opposed to the microwave, or the use of warm water.
Saving Water in the Kitchen
The average American family of four uses 400 gallons of water per day. On average, approximately 70 percent of that water is used indoors, with the bathroom being the largest consumer, followed closely by the kitchen Consider that washing dishes with a running faucet can consume as much as 4 gallons of water per minute. By comparison, an Energy Star rated dish washer can consume as little as 4 gallons of water per cycle. When we first begin to wash our clothes, we realize that using cold water for washing purposes is the best way to go. We know that when we spin the washer and agitate the washing machine we are adding pollutants to the water we are using. However, most people just continue to use hot water to wash their clothes. The end result is that we are actually wasting gallons of water every time we finish washing.
The Oklahoma State Department of Environmental Quality has published a very useful PDF with more water savings tips
Other Water Saving Measures
How much water are we wasting in just washing our clothes each day? About six gallons per minute just by running a washing machine
Then you consider lawn care and how much water is being wasted? On average, we are using about eleven hundred gallons of water per month to water our lawns. Turf grass used in landscaping has become the number one consumer of water, of all crops raised in the U.S.
These are just a few examples of how we can be saving money and saving energy when we are using these different appliances. And just as we have seen with the leak detection system that was installed in our home; we can find leaks in the common items that we use every day, like the dishwasher, refrigerator and washing machine. It’s always best to call a professional to make sure that you have these items checked before starting to use them. Not checking these items can lead to costly repairs or even loss.