With electricity costs at eyewatering rates, making appliances as efficient as possible is essential. Here are my top four very simple things that you can do today to reduce appliance energy consumption
1, Clean your fridge air intake vent
Your fridge is one of those kitchen appliances you just can't turn off to save on kW usage.
The air intake grill, set at foot traffic level in most freestanding fridges, easily gets clogged with dust, pet hair and lint. Accumulated dirt on the air intake fins can cause your fridge condenser coil to work harder, therefore, using more energy to keep the fridge working at optimum efficiency.
Regularly cleaning this air intake will reduce your energy use, reduce running costs and be better for the planet.
2, Don't always preheat your oven
Many modern ovens get to temperature in half the time it takes you to peel the carrots, so limit oven preheating to cooking things that need a stark temperature change, such as bread and cakes, which require an immediate blast of heat to activate or set. Or for roast meat, which, unless seared beforehand, cooks best with a hot sizzle that enables the Maillard reaction.
3, Descale your kettle
In addition to the obvious tip of only boiling enough water for your need, descale your kettle regularly.
If it's full of limescale, you use more energy to boil the same amount of water. Pop in a descaler ball and clean each time too.
4, Size matters
Use the right size pan for the job – on the right size ring. If the pan size is smaller than the burner, you are simply burning money!
I hope that my top four are helpful to you.
Please do share your own top kitchen energy-saving tips.
Until next time, best wishes from Charlotte.