You've got your Energy Star rated appliances (and if you don't, find some here), but there are more ways to make your kitchen efficient, and it doesn't have to cost you tons of money (you can even find Energy Star rated appliances in affordable price ranges, we did!). For those of you who still have your old energy hogging appliances, it might be time to consider investing in some new ones. Replace them one by one, as your budget allows (and remember not to throw out your old ones, try donating them to secondhand stores or listing them on websites like craigslist or Freecycle).
Some of these tips for your kitchen can be applied to your whole home:
- Turn off the lights when you are not in the room. This is one of the most obvious energy saving tips, but so many people still forget to switch the lights off when they leave.
- Turn off the water when you are not using it. Another obvious tip that frequently gets forgotten, especially if you hand wash your dishes.
- Don't pre-wash your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. My father-in-law tries to actually wash the dishes before using the dishwasher! Scrape the excess off your dishes when you are done with them, and before it has a chance to dry on.
- Only run full loads of dishes. If your dishwasher is less then full, you are wasting a lot of energy and water. Be sure the dishes are spaced well enough to allow good water flow for best cleaning. You can alternate big plates with little plates, different sized bowls, etc., and make sure that your silverware are spaced well, also. Instead of running a dry cycle, try opening the dishwasher door when the wash cycle is finished and allowing the dishes to air dry.
- Unplug appliances that are not in use, when you can. I know that you all probably already know that electronics and appliances of all kinds still suck energy, even when they are not turned on. Even toasters do it! Unplug the ones that can easily be plugged back in. I'm not recommending to move your oven and unplug it every time you are done, but appliances that have no purpose when not in use, such as toasters, toaster ovens, blenders, etc., can be unplugged every time you are done with them.
- Don't waste heat by using an oven burner that is bigger than necessary. Using an 8 inch burner for a 6 inch pan will waste greater than 40% of the heat. Most energy-efficient ovens today come with a variety of burner sizes, so if you buy a new oven, try to choose one with sizes that will be useful for you.
- The use of glass and ceramic dishes will allow you to cook with 25 degrees (F) less heat in the same amount of time. Keep your oven doors closed during the cooking process to avoid heat escaping. If you need to check on your food, use the oven light (but remember to turn it off when you are done!).
- Avoid preheating the oven when you can, most foods do not require it.
- Use your microwave to cook (and reheat!) small meals, when possible. The same meal cooked in a microwave can consume less than 1/5th the energy than when cooked in the oven. Keep the inside of your microwave clean for more efficient cooking.
- If possible, keep your refrigerator in a cool place. Fridges in the sun or next to the oven or dishwasher need to work harder to keep temperatures cool. Decide what you want from the fridge/freezer before you open it, and be careful to close the doors all way when you are done. Try to keep the freezer section full, but don't overstuff the fridge section. Frozen items in the freezer help to keep other items frozen, but a full refrigerator works harder to stay cool.
Do you have any more kitchen efficiency tips? Share with us!
34 Responses
1
Matt D
May 28th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Hey Stefanie, great post.
Do you think that it takes less water to wash a dishwasher's worth of kitchenware in the sink or by using the dishwasher. i would hope that a machine would be more efficient, but i am not sure.
2
Stefanie
May 29th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Matt D said:
I have read that the dishwasher is more efficient, as long as you run it full. Some people say that if you do a full load of dishes by hand at one time, it will use less water than the fully loaded dishwasher, but I'm not sure about that. Washing dishes by hand several times a day definitely uses more water then running a full dishwasher once a day. Michael at Green Living Tips wrote an interesting post on this.
3
Columbus Family Law
July 30th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Thanks for the tips! I will definitely use them- except for the microwave. Although it might save on energy, its not necessarily the healthiest way to heat your food. I'll stick to the stove for that!
4
Stefanie
July 31st, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Columbus, I think there is a lot of conflicting information on cooking in microwaves. I don't really think there is any health risk, just a lot of hype. Cooking food in plastic DOES make it unhealthy, though.
5
Matt D
August 4th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Hey Stefanie, just referenced this post in today's article. today we commented on professor's fish's think again column in the NYT.
http://www.mynewplace.com/blog/2008/08/04/is-it-worth-going-green-at-your-apartment/
barring any further green posts this week, i'll look forward to submitting this for eco carnival 12.
thanks for including our post today!
6
Stefanie
August 5th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Awesome, thanks Matt!
7
Jonathan Thomas
September 9th, 2008 at 10:29 am
I find a good way to save some energy is to turn down the knobs on the fridge and freezer controls. Or rather up. I mean to say that the fridge doesn't need to be set to as cool as it is. Just move it up a notch. Your milk will still be as cold.
8
Stefanie
September 9th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
That is a very good tip, Jonathan!
9
sancho8297
September 12th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
Great post on how to make your kitchen more earth friendly. I wanted to give it a Digg and share it with the world, but alas none could be found! If you add one on let me know so I can come back and give it (and our enviro) some love.
(P.S. you're blog has GREAT photos on it)
10
Stefanie
September 15th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
Sancho, I've made the social bookmarking links (hopefully!) a little more easy to find with the site redesign!
11
GreenKitchenDesign
October 21st, 2008 at 11:20 am
Another tip for keeping down energy costs (and getting your fridge to last longer) is to not leave the doors open. I find my husband doing this all the time! He just stands in front of the fridge staring in at it trying to decide what to eat.
The best bet is to simply have a plan of what food you need before you go to the fridge, then simply go in and get it and shut the doors.
12
Stefanie
October 21st, 2008 at 12:02 pm
GreenKitchenDesign, that is a very good tip. I've caught myself doing the same thing sometimes (shh, don't tell!).
13
Key
November 27th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Hey Stefanie.
Excellent pos, can i translate, and publish it on my site?
thanks.
14
Stefanie
December 3rd, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Key, sure, just link to this post, if you wouldn't mind.
15
Key
December 4th, 2008 at 8:18 am
Thanks Stefanie :0)
16
Knife Sets
December 10th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Thanks for the tips!
Another area you can save energy is when cooking with water.
Boiling water in a kettle is much more efficient than heating it up in a pan. Also, don't boil more water than you need to - measure water for tea/coffee by filling the kettle a mug at a time, and be conservative when measuring for things like pasta. You can always add more later!
17
Stefanie
December 15th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Knife Sets - very good tip! I should really start adding these tips in the comments to the post
*makes a mental note to do this later*
18
Custom Web Design
December 19th, 2008 at 5:21 am
Hi Stefanie,
Wonderful tips! You are doing great work. This post awareness of save electricity, water and money. Thanks.
19
Body Wraps
December 23rd, 2008 at 2:03 am
Awesome tip regarding using glass and ceramic cookware. I had no idea that it was so efficient!
Thanks for the post.
20
ximiei
December 23rd, 2008 at 2:19 am
Stephanie, your water saving tips in the kitchen were appreciated. Do you have suggestions for the laundry room as well?
For doing kitchen dishes Mum was most efficient in the early 50's. There were 11 kids in our family.
Mum would open the kitchen window then throw all the bowls, plates, glasses, serving platters, cutlery, and chopsticks out the window and exclaim, "There! That's finished. Now I'm going shopping to buy some tableware."
P.S.
The kids always had to do pots and pans.
21
commercial kitchenware
January 17th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Nice tips, I like our kitchen to be like that.. Very organized and clean..
22
Stefanie
January 21st, 2009 at 4:42 pm
ximiei, I should probably write up a list of tips for the laundry room, huh?
23
Soap Nuts
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:45 pm
I personally like to soak all of my dishes prior to putting them into the dishwasher. It doesn't waste any water, but soaks them enough to where a simple rinse will get rid of any build-up.
But, I also avoid using a microwave at all costs. I've heard all sorts of reasons why they are unhealthy for you. Did you know that Russia actually banned all microwaves, because a study revealed that you were more likely to get colon cancer from eating microwaved foods.
24
Food blenders
March 23rd, 2009 at 6:46 am
Great tips. Though I still believe that hand washing dishing is better and saves water than dish washing small about of dishes in a dish washer.
-Kashif
25
Stefanie
April 10th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Soap Nuts, I still have to look up this information on microwaves. I've heard conflicting info.
Food blenders, of course hand washing a few if you need to is better than running an empty dishwasher, but this is comparing doing a full load by hand vs. a full load by dishwasher.
26
kitchen
April 16th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
Interesting! If you said using microwave unhealthy! Is it true microwave can make colon cancer? What study can proof that. BTW I use microwave for years.
Soap Nuts said:
27
Enigin
April 29th, 2009 at 10:38 am
Some fantastic energy saving tips Stefanie - it always amazes me how many people forget to switch off lights and taps when not in use.
28
Kitchen Contractor
June 8th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Regarding the fridge, one place where a lot of waste can be prevented is in the seals connecting the door and the main fridge unit. If the seals aren't tight, you can waste a lot of electricity - not to mention your food will go bad quicker. You can fix this by adjusting your fridge door or replacing the seals.
29
appliances
June 20th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
"Russia banned all microwaves" and the source is...
30
Colon Cleansing
June 23rd, 2009 at 11:08 am
prewashing my dishes before I put them in the dishwasher is always a habit of mine, even though the dishwasher would clean the dishes just fine without me rinsing them first. Great tips here.
31
HardwoodFlooring
July 9th, 2009 at 1:47 am
In regards to cleaning your hardwood flooring, use those appliances in which using the smallest amount of water is key.
32
Is it Worth Going Green at Your Apartment? | MyNewPlace Blog
July 15th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
[...] of the blogs we look to for tips on matters such as these, the Focus Organic Blog, provides ten great tips on how to go green in your [...]
33
Suzy
July 29th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Wow, cooking with glass or ceramics allows you to cook at 25 degrees cooler for the same amount of time? That's news to me. I have been using glassware more because it seems that it bakes better, and now I know why!
34
Knee replacement surgery
July 30th, 2009 at 3:58 am
Hi Stefanie,
Thanks for sharing such wonderful tips. I’ did’t know about such little things like unplug the appliances where it’s not in use still it sucks electricity, some usages of dish washer. Really you have done nice job through this blog post.