You may already be going round diligently turning off all the lights in the house, trying to cut down on your energy use. However, you may be surprised to find out which household appliances are using the most energy. Here, we look at the top 5 most energy-hungry appliance and some tips to using them as efficiently as possible.
1. Wet Appliances
Anything that uses water – for example, washing machines and dishwashers – is known s a wet appliance. In fact, on average they use a whopping 25% or a household’s electrical use. Considerable power is required to heat up the water being used. So opting to wash your clothes at a lower temperature, and avoiding washing half loads can greatly lower your energy consumption. When it comes to the dishwasher, try to use the Eco setting, and wait until it is full before starting.
2. Consumer Electronics
With our houses being filled with laptops, TVs and games consoles, consumer electronics account for around 19% of the total electrical use in a home. And the scary thing is that about half of this energy usage is when the items are in standby mode! And for TVs over 10 years old, the power they use in standby mode is even greater. Most of these items won’t reset if they are turned off fully, so turn them off standby where possible and you could make considerable savings.
3. Cooking
Your kitchen appliances, including the hob, oven, kettle and microwave also make up 19% or the average household’s electricity usage. Try to cook for more people at once where possible, only fill your kettle up with the water you need and use the microwave where you can – they are more efficient than the oven as they only heat up the food and not the air around them.
4. Cold Appliances
Fridges and freezers account for 16% of electricity usage. They obviously need to be kept on, however, there are still ways to reduce their energy usage. The more products they have in them, the more power they need to keep cool, so try to avoid overloading them.
5. Lighting
Lighting uses about 16% of the total electricity in a household. Replacing your halogen bulbs with LEDs can help reduce your usage. LEDs are now available in many different shades, so moving over to them doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice the lighting effects you want in your home.
So, now you know how much electricity your appliances are using, see what small changes you can make around the home to help you to save money and save the planet.