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Energy Efficiency 101 Take a cue from the kitchen – conserve energy when, where and how you can It can be a little overwhelming: Everyone seems to be riding that green wave, but you're still stuck on dry land. If your head is a jumble of carbon footprints and you're seeing Energy Stars, test the waters with a few of these energy-saving kitchen tips from the U.S. Department of Energy. 1. Rather than rinsing dishes to rid them of large food pieces and bones, scrape them before putting them in the dishwasher. Burned-on and dried-on foods generally require prewashing, but for everything else, conserve the water. 2. If your dishwasher doesn't have an air-dry switch, manually turn it off after the final rinse and leave the door slightly ajar for faster drying. 3. Take your refrigerator's temperature. Recommended temperatures are 37-40 degrees F for the fresh food compartment, 5 degrees F for the freezer section, and 0 degrees F for long-term storage freezers. Test refrigerator temperature by placing a thermometer in a glass of water in the center of the unit. For freezers, place the thermometer between frozen packages. Check both after 24 hours. 4. If you have a manual-defrost refrigerator, don't let frost build up more than one-quarter of an inch. Frost buildup decreases energy efficiency, so manually defrost often. 5. Pressure cookers and microwaves use less energy by reducing cooking time; use them whenever possible. 6. When running small amounts of water, place the faucet in the cold position. The hot position will use energy to heat the water, even if that water may not make it to the faucet. 7. Keep range-top burners and reflectors clean. They will reflect heat better and save energy. |
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