Kitchen Appliances and Saving Money in the Home

1. Kitchen Appliances &Saving Money in the Home www.dunelm.com

2. Decor Fridges, freezers, washing machines, tumble dryers. It’s hard to imagine where we’d be without them. These handy appliances certainly save us so much time, but through our inefficient use of them we’re causing damage to the environment. This usage is highlighted in the amounts we spend powering them. But how much are they costing us in cash? Well, it’s been estimated that households in the UK use around £3.4 billion worth of electricity each year on cooling and freezing food, washing and drying clothes and cleaning dishes1. That’s without taking into account the power used by the TVs, computers and the arsenal of additional gadgets owned by most households today. Unsurprisingly it’s the kitchen, with its collection of large home appliances, which consumes the most energy in the home - around £15.50’s worth each month, according to All About Money2. There are many ways in which you can reduce the amount of electricity you use powering your appliances, and run a more environmentally-friendly kitchen. We frequently talk about savvy ways to save money on the weekly shop, but less so about the ways to reduce the amounts of energy we use – not only to be greener, but also to save money. www.dunelm.com | 1

3. Buying Large Home Appliances: www.dunelm.com | 2 Large appliances are labelled with EU energy efficiency labels. These labels indicate to buyers how efficient something is so they can make a considered choice before purchasing. Each appliance is graded from A+++ to G (G being the least efficient) based on its energy performance in a series of tests. The label also includes annual energy consumption, as well information that’s more specific to the product in question. The items that can currently bear the EU energy efficiency label are: washing machines, tumble dryers and washer dryers; fridges, fridge freezers and freezers; dishwashers; air conditioners; energy-saving light bulbs and electric ovens. Naturally, the better rated a home appliance is, the less it’s likely to cost to run. Therefore, one of the best ways to reduce energy usage in the home is to buy large appliances bearing the EU energy efficiency label with a higher energy rating.

4. The Fridge www.dunelm.com | 3 As the home appliance that never sleeps, the fridge is a hub of activity – usually being raided for goodies after every weekly shop! It’s expected to quietly keep food cold all day, every day, so naturally uses a fair amount of electricity. Research has shown that an A+ rated fridge freezer (like our Servis T60170R Retro Style Topmount Fridge Freezer) costs around £27 each year to run3. However, there are things you can do to reduce the amount of energy these large home appliances consume, and all you need to do is show a little bit of care and attention.

5. Don’t leave the door on your fridge open for excessive amounts of time. We all have that dilemma of deciding what to have for dinner, waiting with the door ajar. But when you leave the door open, the cold air that should be keeping your food fine and fresh, escapes and is replaced with air that’s at room temperature. When you close the fridge door, its compressor drives this warmer air out. So, if you’ve had the door open for longer, the compressor is naturally going to have to work harder which means it will consume more energy. It’s been estimated, on average, that the door being left open accounts for seven per cent of the fridge’s total energy usage4. • Allow warm foods to cool before storing them in the fridge. It’s tempting to put cooked leftovers straight in the fridge. However, you should always leave them to cool. When stored, the heat from the food warms the air in the fridge. This in turn means that it has to work harder, and use more energy, to bring the temperature back down to a lower level. • Don’t overfill your fridge. Everyone loves a fridge packed with goodies, but you should try to avoid storing too many away inside. All fridges have a storage capacity recommended by the manufacturer (check your appliance’s instructions if you’re unsure). If you go over this recommended capacity, your fridge is going to have to work much harder to keep everything inside cool. • Check the door seals every once in a while. The door seals on a fridge have to withstand a fair amount of wear and tear, and they can become grimy. If they break, the cool air trapped within the fridge can escape, and warm air can enter, causing it to require more energy to work efficiently. www.dunelm.com | 4

6. The Washing Machine www.dunelm.com | 5 How many times do you use your washing machine a week? Once? Twice? Ten times? Regardless of how many washes we put on each week, there’s one certainty - we’d be in a state of disarray without them. With this frequent reliance, it’s been said that the washing machine accounts for seven per cent of the home’s total energy bill5. A+++ rated appliances, like our Servis W812F4HDN Black Hydro Drive Washing Machine, can help you to reduce the amount of energy you use washing your clothes. But there are other things you can do that can also help to keep the impact you have on the environment and your energy bill down.

7. Wait until you have a full load of washing before putting the machine on. There are times when there’s that one piece of clothing that you desperately want to wear, only to find it’s at the bottom of the washing basket – and definitely in no fit state to don. However, you should resist the urge to put the machine on to wash if there’s not a full load. There might be those times when you have little choice, but think about the value you’re getting for your money before you do put a wash on. • Set the washing machine to wash on the shortest cycle and the lowest water level necessary for your load. By doing this you only use what you need – in terms of both water and energy. Your machine uses less water and the wash takes less time, meaning you get your clothes cleaned and save money. • Let heavily stained or soiled items of clothing soak before putting on to wash. Washing machines are great at bringing clothes to a spotless state – but then it is really their only function. Sometimes, though, you have to put clothes on to wash for a second time because the stain wasn’t removed on the first wash. To avoid having to do this you could soak them in a solution of washing liquid or powder and water before putting them on to wash. • Use cold water cycles, or if not a cold water cycle, at least a 30°C cycle. Unless you’re washing clothes that are badly stained or quite dirty, it’s unlikely that you’re going to need a warmer temperature to bring them back up to standard. www.dunelm.com | 6

8. The Freezer www.dunelm.com | 7 Like the fridge, the freezer is left switched on 24 hours a day, which makes it one of the biggest consumers of energy in the home. One of the easiest ways to improve energy efficiency in your kitchen is simply to buy a model that fulfils your needs – i.e. nothing too big that’s going to have large empty spaces it has to work to keep cool. Many people opt for fridge freezers now, but did you know that side-by-side units (half fridge, half freezer) are less energy efficient than those featuring the freezer on top or underneath the fridge?Models with the freezer sat side-by-side with the fridge use up to 20 per cent more energy, according to uSwitch6. Therefore, you could opt for top-bottom unit, like our Servis FD91185SS 4-Door American Style Fridge Freezer, to save money on energy.

9. Here are four additional things you can do to make your fridge freezer more energy efficient: • Don’t have your fridge freezer sat within direct sunlight. Not all homeowners will be able to take this course of action, purely because of kitchen size or layout. Although it sounds obvious, it’ll perform more efficiently if it’s not positioned in a spot where’s it’s going to be exposed to sunlight. Additionally, you should avoid positioning it next to a source that emits large amounts of heat – such as a radiator or an oven. • Don’t neglect the dust behind the fridge freezer. Many of us are guilty of allowing dust and dirt to build up in those spots we can’t see – out of sight, out of mind. However, when it accumulates behind the freezer or fridge freezer it can have a negative impact on performance, resulting in higher energy consumption. You don’t have to get out the rubber gloves and cleaning concoctions –a short, swift vacuum round usually does the trick. • Check to see if your fridge freezer automatically defrosts. If it doesn’t you’ll need to check for build ups of ice inside as it could prevent your unit from performing efficiently. An ice build up can be removed with relative ease by unplugging the unit and melting the ice inside with hot water. • Keep it full, but not over capacity. Why pay to cool to empty spaces filled with air within your freezer? Your freezer has to work harder to keep these gaps cold, so it’s worth ensuring that you keep a well stocked freezer for energy efficiency purposes. Having a full freezer also benefits the hungry mouths in your home. Pieces of screwed up newspaper can be used to fill these gaps, and reduce energy consumption. www.dunelm.com | 8

10. www.dunelm.com | 9 Small Kitchen Appliances Although they don’t consume anywhere near as much energy as the kitchen’s larger appliances, small home appliances, like microwaves, kettles, toasters and so on, still consume considerable amounts. These amounts are certainly noticeable on your annual energy bill. It’s been estimated that the kettle alone costs £16.90 to power each year7.

11. Fill your kettle with only the amount of water you need. If you fill it up to the top you only end up boiling water you don’t use – water which ultimately ends up down the sink. By boiling only the amount you need, you use less electricity. • Don’t use the microwave to defrost your food. With a little bit of prior planning you can ensure that your food is defrosted and ready to cook. All you have to do is put the food you want to defrost in the fridge and leave it overnight. • Try not to open the microwave door whilst you’re heating food. Every time you open the door on your microwave, you allow heat to exit, which means that the microwave has to work more to bring the heat back up. Although it’s tempting to sneak a frequent peek, you’ll just end up wasting electricity – and money – if you do it too often. • Use the toaster instead of the grill. The toaster offers a more efficient cooking method than putting the bread until the grill to toast – remember the grill requires some time to heat up, whereas a toaster reaches this point quite quickly. www.dunelm.com | 10

12. www.dunelm.com | 11 Light Bulbs: In a room dominated by such large home appliances, it’s easy to forget that something as small as switching to energy efficient light bulbs can help to save money. It’s a simple change, and doesn’t cost much to do. Changing just one light bulb in the home for an energy efficient variant, whether it’s in the kitchen or the bathroom, can save you on average £3 a year8.

13. References: 1 http://www.britishgas.co.uk/products-and-services/gas-and-electricity/tips-and-advice/appliance-energy-costs.html 2 http://www.allaboutmoney.com/money-blog/article/Appliance-costs-infographic-how-much-does-it-cost-to-run-your-home-0-6096-0.htm 3 http://www.carbonfootprint.com/energyconsumption.html 4 http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/green-living/refrigerator-door-wastes-energy 5 http://www.uswitch.com/energy-saving/guides/energy-efficient-laundry/ 6 http://www.uswitch.com/energy-saving/guides/fridges-and-freezers/ 7 http://www.carbonfootprint.com/energyconsumption.html 8 http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Electricity/Lighting/Lighting-products/Energy-saving-light-bulbs Cover image by Emily May https://www.flickr.com/photos/emilysnuffer/. Opening page image by Jim Larrison https://www.flickr.com/photos/larrison/ licenses can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ www.dunelm.com | 12

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