Simple Steps to Save Energy — and Money — at Home

Pare away at your energy use by evaluating your household appliances and making smart buying choices. From Green Goes With Everything: Simple Steps to a Healthier Life and a Cleaner Planet by Sloan Barnett, a regular contributor to NBC’s Today show

When you think about the energy use and cost of appliances — refrigerators, washers, dryers, dishwashers, and stoves especially — you need to think about two factors: the average life cycle of the thing and the amount of energy it uses during its life. That’s the only reliable way to make sense of its real cost. The one with the lowest price tag may end up costing you much more over the course of its life than a more expensive one. It’s just like light bulbs. Fortunately, most of the electronic appliances sold today have bright yellow and black EnergyGuide tags on them so we can compare the energy use and cost of different makes and models. And if you’re shopping for any kind of appliance, choose the one with the Energy Star label. Energy Star’s requirements are much more stringent than the federal minimums and the savings can be significant.

Here’s another thing to consider: Let’s say you have a refrigerator that’s past its normal life span but still working just fine. Why replace it, right? But if you bought it, say, during the 1980s, or even much more recently, a new one will be vastly more energy efficient, and therefore replacing it will be cost effective.  In that case, it might be more sensible economically to spend money on a new fridge than to keep the old one, even when you include the embodied energy cost of producing the new one and disposing of the old one. For more information, you can go to energystar.gov and find out how much you can actually save.

In the meantime, though, here are ways to reduce the energy and financial cost of using the most common home appliances:

• Refrigerators. We have warm seasons and cold seasons and in-between seasons, but when was the last time you adjusted the thermostat on your refrigerator or its freezer compartment? Do you have any idea what the actual temperature is in either section? I sure didn’t, and the manufacturers don’t help us any. Usually the only temperature choice you have is “warmer” and “colder” on a revolving dial. That tells you nothing. The temperature in your refrigerator should be above freezing, but not higher than 40 degrees Fahrenheit, and for the freezer, not higher than 5 degrees Fahrenheit. Go to a hardware store and buy an inexpensive refrigerator thermometer, drop it in a glass of water, and leave it in the fridge for twenty-four hours (for the freezer, just put the thermometer between two frozen packages). Then adjust the thermostat accordingly; you’ll save big on energy costs by keeping the fridge at about 38 degrees Fahrenheit. You’ll also save by vacuuming the refrigeration coils behind or under the unit; they have to work much harder if they’re coated in dust and lint. Finally, do the dollar test. Stick a dollar bill between the fridge and its door in several places; if it pulls out without tugging, it means the rubber gaskets that seal the door are shot, and that means wasted energy. Have them replaced.

• Dishwashers. Automatic dishwashers — especially new ones — are far more efficient, in both energy and water use, than washing dishes in a sink… and way more fun! But don’t turn that dishwasher on unless it’s fully loaded. And just scrape off any leftover food, don’t rinse it off. Today’s dishwashers don’t require pre-rinsing, and you’re just using up energy and water from your hot water tank. Many of today’s washers will boost the temperature of the wash water to the required 140 degrees Fahrenheit. That way you can keep your home water heater turned down to 120 degrees. Finally, let the dishes air dry; turn off the power dry feature.

• Cooking Ranges. First of all, natural gas stoves are more energy efficient and cleaner in the long run than electrical stoves (remember, a lot of our electricity comes from coal-burning power stations). If you do buy a new gas stove, make sure it has an electronic ignition system; pilot lights, which are always on, can use as much as 40 percent more gas. Whichever kind of stove you have, use a cover on any pot in which you’re boiling something; that speeds up the process and, naturally, takes less energy.

• Get “Unplugged.” Now think about all the other electrical appliances in your house — the television, video player, stereo, cell phone chargers, other battery chargers, microwave, computers, the lot. Even when they’re off, they’re actually on. If you see a light, or the clock on your microwave, those pieces of equipment are still sucking in electricity. It might be as little as a burning incandescent light bulb, but when you think of how many of those light bulb equivalents are left burning twenty-four hours a day, it really adds up. Your best bet? Wherever most of your entertainment equipment is, plug them all into a surge-protected power switch and snap it off when you’re not actually using them.

And while we’re on the subject of power, did you know you may well have the choice — and we’re all about choices here — to have some or all of your electricity come from strictly renewable sources, like wind power and biogas? It’s true. And finding out is simple. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy division has an easy-to-use Website that lets you know. Go to eere.energy.gov/greenpower/ buying/buying_power.shtml and click on your state. That will bring up a list of the utilities in your state that offer such options. There may be a small surcharge to participate, but think of the message you’re sending the power company when you make that choice!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sloan Barnett, author of Green Goes with Everything: Simple Steps to a Healthier Life and a Cleaner Planet (Copyright © 2008 by Sloan Barnett), is a regular contributor to NBC’s Today show and the Green Editor for KNTV, the NBC affiliate in San Francisco. She has been a television and print journalist for more than ten years, and wrote a popular consumer advice column for New York’s Daily News for nearly a decade. She lives in San Francisco with her husband and three children. For more information, please visit greengoeswitheverything.com.

MORE ARTICLES BY THE AUTHOR

• A Fine Mess: Cloth or Disposable Diapers?
• How to Buy Organic Without Breaking the Bank
• Why Are You Wearing Lead on Your Lips?

LEARN MORE

• Read the Introduction to Green Goes with Everything: Simple Steps to a Healthier Life and a Cleaner Planet
• See the book’s Table of Contents