Lowering Energy Consumption In Your Kitchen Without Spending Thousands On Appliances

Saving money on your utilities doesn't mean having to go out and spend thousands of dollars on new appliances for your kitchen. Although this would be one way to save money in the future, not everyone has the thousands of dollars to spend to upgrade older appliances. Here, you will learn affordable ways to reduce kitchen energy consumption today.

Refrigerator

Your refrigerator can suck down quite a bit of electricity in a day. If you take a few minutes to make a few adjustments, you can lower the amount of energy it requires to keep your food cool.

1. Make sure there's enough room for the unit to breathe. Slide the unit away from the wall and allow for at least a few inches of space behind it. You should also have 2-inches of space on all sides and nothing stored on top of it. If there isn't enough air-flow around the unit, it will have to work harder and longer to maintain the cool temperature inside.
2. Keep the door closed. How many times do you go to the refrigerator to look for something to eat or drink, stand there with the door open and end up finding nothing that seems appetizing at the time? Keep a list of the contents on a dry erase or chalk board on the front of the unit. If you need visual aids to decide what you want, use a smart phone or tablet to take a picture of what you have in there and refer to it instead of letting all of the cool air out as you decide what you want.

Stove and Oven

The stove and oven are necessary to prepare meals, but do you really need to heat up that entire oven box to heat up a small dish? Go out and purchase a small counter-top toaster or convection oven. These units heat up much quicker and don't require nearly as much energy to heat up small portions of food.

When using the stove, cover the pots of water as you wait for them to boil. Use pots that are the correct size and keep an eye on things as you are cooking. Only use the stove as often as you need and only for as long as you need. Consider investing in the countertop NuWave Induction cooktop. These heat up very quickly, use much less energy and maintain a regulated temperature much better than gas or electric stoves.

A lot of the things that are done in the kitchen can be done without causing as much energy loss. Take the time to look around your kitchen and think about where you can reduce the use of electricity. Maybe replace plug-in nightlights for solar powered and add a few mirrors to reflect the sunlight during the day. It's these small changes that can go a long way in improving the energy use in your kitchen.

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