Mine was made in 1992. I can’t find it on the energy star web site, though. Just say your average refrigerator from 1992 vs. an average new one today, how much could I save in a year?
Depending on where you live in the US, your power bill can be a real burden on your monthly expenses. During the summer in Las Vegas last year, my bill was hitting around $250 a month. That’s before I learned the key tips to lowering my power bill to save money and go greener.
Light bulbs
Although fluorescent light bulbs may be a bit more expensive, the investment into them is well worth the price. The cost of using a single standard incandescent light bulb costs the same as using 6-10 fluorescent bulbs. The fluorescent bulbs last up to 10 times longer as well. There are various shapes and types to choose from which include attractive compact units that give off a pleasing, soft illumination like traditional bulbs.
“If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an Energy Star qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.”
Stop those vampires!
These are not your regular blood sucking vampires, but never the less they do suck the energy from your home and the money out of your wallet. Devices like DVR’s, Digital Cable and Satellite convertors, VCR’s, DVD players, TV’s, computers, radios, electric razors, battery chargers and so on drain power even when you think they are off. Usually, these devices just go into standby mode as long as they are still plugged in. The easiest solution is to buy a power strip to plug the devices into or unplug the devices in general. When you’re not using them, just flick the power strip off or unplug them and these energy vampires will no longer be siphoning power and raising your electric bill.
Air conditioners
During the long, hot summers here in Las Vegas is when our power bills reach record breaking heights. The main suspect in all this is definitely the AC. Even the Power Companies tell you this. A lot of central air conditioners now come with a control pad that lets you adjust the house’s temperature on the fly. Although it’s a good idea to turn it down or up when you feel the need, a better solution is to program your AC to cool the house at certain temperatures during certain times of the day. My household is set at 80 degrees Fahrenheit throughout the hottest periods of the day and at night around 10pm; it goes to 78 degrees so that the wife and I can sleep comfortably. In the morning at 8am, it kicks back up to 80 degrees again (You’ll see why it’s so important in the next section below). This routine runs all 7 days a week. That way I don’t have to worry about adjusting the temperature all the time and if I’m not at home (vacation or away) it maintains itself. If you want to save even more money, try opening your windows throughout the day and turn the AC off.
Use appliances during non peak times
Just like a cell phone service that offers nights and weekends free, Power Companies have their peak and off-peak hours. I didn’t know this for a very long time and I can tell you that it saves you a lot of money! So how can you take advantage of this? During peak hours (here in Nevada it’s about 1pm-7pm) limit your appliance and device activities. If you’re not using your TV, Computer, DVD player and so on, then turn them off through the power strip or unplug them so they are not siphoning energy. Set your air conditioner to about 80 degrees or so during the day. Instead of drying your clothes in the dryer, hang your clothes to dry outside. This works very well in areas with high summer temperatures. During off-peak hours at night, do your laundry, run the dishwasher and dry your clothes. I also set my AC to 78 degrees at night because it’s still very hot during the evening and it’s harder to sleep when you’re too hot. Also remember, wash your hands and dishes in the sink with cold water as hot water uses energy to heat it up. Below is a break down of the peak and off-peak hours and prices for Nevada Power. As you can see, during peak hours, the price is 21-23 cents as compared to 7-8 cents. You do the math. So make sure you check your power company’s website or call customer service and find out the breakdown for your state.
Price per kWh
Summer Peak
1-7 p.m. June 1 thru Sept 30
23.081¢ kWh Single Family
21.972¢ kWh for Multi-Family
Summer Off-Peak
7:01-12:59 p.m. June 1 thru Sept 30
7.578¢ kWh Single Family
8.079¢ kWh for Multi-Family
Your water heater
Here’s another way to take advantage of your power company’s off-peak hours. The electric water heater in your home draws almost as much power as anything else in your house. Any easy solution for this is to put your water heater on a timer. Set it to turn off at around 6am and to come back on at 7pm. A lot of heaters have enough insulation and are big enough to maintain the heated hot water throughout the day. If there is ever an occasion where you need more hot water than what is already being held, simply turn on the hot water heater and you’re good to go.
The refrigerator/freezer
Most people only utilize one, maybe two refrigerators/freezers in their house. Older refrigerators and freezers can use up to three times more power than the newer energy efficient ones. In the end, this runs up your bill. What you can do is get rid of them. I know that Nevada Power runs a free program where they will pick up your old appliance for free as well as give you $30 for it just for recycling it through them. This is a great way to lower your monthly power bill, earn some extra cash and help the environment.
By cutting back on power, you’re helping the environment, saving yourself money and you can educate other people about what you now know. After applying these changes myself, my power bill went from $250/month last summer to under $150/month this summer.
The windows are single pain, old and leaky; the appliances are from the 1960’s and 1970’s ie refrigerator, hot water heater, dryer and washer and the Air conditioners are from the 1970’s and early 1980’s. Our family liked to fix things so everything needs to be replaced with better energy star technology.
So… where should we start? Which improvement would give us the biggest Bang for the Buck? Thanks for your suggestions.
Discover More Than 119 Green Solutions That Will Put Money In Your Pocket And Help Save The Planet! Tips On Saving Energy, Organic Foods, Recycling, Recycled, Environmental And Eco Products, Lowering Carbon Emissions, Reducing Waste And Solar Products.
BUY: Money Saving Green Solutions.
We’re building a house and at the point of picking out appliances I thought I wanted to go with all energy-star appliances save money and energy in the long after going back and forth looking at the specs on two comparable GE refrigerators – one energy-star, the other not energy star, the savings per year appears to be a whopping $3. As the energy star fridge is $200. more than the regular it would take 66 years to absorb that cost. Also, is it just me or is $3 of energy savings really going to be …any?
The math is based on what the two GE machines say on their spec pages, this seems like a huge waste of my money…where is the savings? what am I missing or is this just a bunch of hype.
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Updating your household appliances can be a very large expense especially if the appliances you have are still in working order. When you do decide to upgrade whether it be out of choice or due to old appliance failure, look for the Energy Star logo. Appliances with the Energy Star logo are up to 50% more efficient and use less energy and water to operate which will easily save you $75 a year.
Don’t just check the price tag; be sure to look at the Energy Guide Tag as well.
An energy guide tag can be found on every new appliance and will tell you exactly how much energy the machine will consume during operation, less energy means more savings. Remember you’re not just saving money here, you’re saving mother earth. So check for yourself and compare Energy Star appliances with similar non-Energy Star appliances and see exactly how much more efficient they can be. The bottom line is when buying new appliances look at both tags, obviously the price tag, but don’t forget to look at the yellow energy guide tag as well.
Even More Ways to Save.
When you or your significant other, or whoever, cooks a meal at home, don’t put the leftovers in the refrigerator right away. Place them on the counter and give them a chance to cool beforehand. Doing so will keep your refrigerator from working harder to keep the temperature down. By the way the ideal temp in your fridge is between 35 – 38 degrees Fahrenheit (1.66 – 3.33 degrees Celsius) in the cooler section and about 5 degrees Fahrenheit in the freezer portion. After using the oven consider leaving the door cracked in the winter to let the heat escape and help heat your home, there is no need in keeping that energy cooped up unless of course its summer time. This may not be a good idea if you have little ones running around. Remember not to over fill your dryer with clothes as they will take longer to dry and waste energy. Also, take advantage of your already warm dryer by doing consecutive loads and be sure to check your lint screen between each load. Opening your dishwasher and letting your dishes air dry instead of using the heat dry feature is another way to save energy and money while using appliances.
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Energy conservation is a hot topic these days from restaurants to cafeterias to university dining halls. A recent ENERGY STAR® survey found that restaurant owners could increase profits up to 30% by simply “going green” in the kitchen. These top 10 savings tips will help you reduce the cost in your energy bill while maximizing profit dollars.
1. Turn It Off!
Just like leaving the lights on in your home, leaving equipment to run idly will cost you hundreds of dollars for unused energy. By turning off your inactive equipment, it saves energy and plenty of cash on your next gas, electric, or water bill. For those times when you forget to turn off equipment after closing, electrical timers can be placed on outlets to automatically flip off equipment when you aren’t around.
Typical equipment left on overnight or during idle kitchen hours are griddles, French tops, ranges, convection ovens, and dish machines. These can all have timers placed between their power outlets and cords to turn them off when you forget.
Energy Saver #1: Even if you remember to turn off some equipment, other side tools are often forgotten. For instance, after you turn off your dish machine, don’t forget to turn off the booster heater.
Energy Saver #2: You can’t turn the whole griddle off, but you can turn off some of the burners during slower business hours. Turn off all the griddle burners except leaving one burner on for off-peak hours. This will save you energy while still keeping kitchen services available.
2. Review Your Lighting
Areas such as walk-in coolers or your dry store room don’t need to be illuminated all day long. Turning off lights as you leave typically unused areas is a great way to save money on your energy bill. Again, electrical timers can be used in these areas especially if they are commonly forgotten and left on overnight.
The kind of lighting you use makes a significant difference in your energy consumption too. Florescent lighting uses 1/4 to 1/3 less energy than normal bright lights. Replacing bulbs with higher efficient options will show a lower cost in your monthly bill.
Energy Saver #3: Higher efficiency bulbs can be used in areas that require constant lighting. Replace incandescent lights in your walk in cooler with fluorescent lights which are cooler and consume less energy.
3. Reduce Water Consumption
The US Green Building Council has developed LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certification, a national standard for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings which in turn generates energy savings. These standards have been embraced by US schools from kindergarten to high school. T&S Faucets are designed to support these new standards by promoting efficient water usage in hand sinks, prep sinks and cleanup sinks. When replacing kitchen equipment, make sure to purchase products that contribute to these new standards to help you reduce energy costs.
Energy Saver #4: Replace older faucets with the newly developed models that conserve water without compromising performance. You can find a list of endorsed products on the official Green Restaurant Association web site.
Energy Saver #5: Using a standard dishwasher to clean dishes is sufficient for glassware and other kitchen equipment. Don’t pre-wash dishes. It’s often unnecessary, wasting water and energy and increasing operational costs.
4. Make Your Menu More Efficienct
Are your menu items being prepped and cooked as efficiently as possible? Items that need to be thawed for daily food service can be defrosted in a refrigerator overnight instead of under running water reducing energy usage and conserving water. Review your menu to see if there are common ingredients or items that can all come from one source. Minimizing the number of individual deliveries you receive weekly will add to your conservation practices and reduce your delivery expenses as well as receiving time when you can be going in and out of cold storage using additional energy to bring it back to safe temperatures.
5. Keep Equipment Properly Maintained
Keeping equipment properly maintained has valuable cost efficient benefits. Although a habit for some restaurant owners to let equipment run until a major problem arises, having equipment serviced regularly can catch operational problems. Small problems can become high cost issues through poor performance or a need for greater amounts of energy to maintain required temperatures for cooking, or cooling foods. Keeping equipment maintained also helps eliminate break downs that cause down time where you may need to use an inefficient cooking method as an alternative until your equipment is repaired or replaced.
Energy Saver #6: Delime your steamer regularly to save energy by making your boiler run as efficiently as possible and extending your equipment life.
6. Always Keep Equipment Clean
Setting up a nightly cleaning routine will help you keep equipment running properly so ranges, ovens, and refrigerators perform at their peak efficiency. Clogged burners, for instance, use more energy to heat and cook food. By unclogging burners, you keep your range using less energy to work at maximum performance.
Gaskets on kitchen ovens become cruddy and build up residue that intrudes on the seal between the rubber and the metal. Allowing outside air to enter the oven requires more energy to keep the oven temperature set. Keep ovens and their doors clean to allow them to heat more efficiently.
Energy Saver #7: Vacuuming refrigerator coils keeps the cooling machinery operating at maximum efficiency. Cleaning coils and keeping dust and materials from building up around them will keep your refrigerator running more efficiently and use less energy.
7. Close the Door
Busy kitchen staff may often forget to do the simplest of energy efficient steps. Leaving oven doors open releases vast amounts of heat. Each time you open an oven door the temperature can drop by as much as 25o F.; watch the clock and use a timer instead. Don’t leave the convection oven or steamer door open too long or it will just continue to release heat, burning unnecessary energy to retain the proper cooking temperature. The walk-in cooler is another door that needs to be shut at all times or cooling becomes a continuous energy pit.
Energy Saver #8: If doors such as the walk-in cooler are consistently left open, place spring hinges on the doors and it will automatically close, eliminating the opportunity for staff to forget to shut the door.
8. Optimize Equipment Capacity
Smaller volume kitchens can use smaller capacity equipment. For instance, steaming small portions of vegetables can be done in the microwave instead of a large capacity steamer.
When choosing from the variety of product manufacturers and standard size equipment, purchase only the size that you need to maximize output while minimizing energy usage. Large production equipment isn’t needed if the kitchen doesn’t have a high volume of customers.
Buy equipment that is Energy Star Certified. This is a quick and easy way to identify equipment that will keep energy costs down but still provide a quality cooking experience. To review a list of more than 1,000 energy efficient food service items and about 500 pieces of Energy Star equipment, visit the official Manitowoc web site.
Energy Saver #9: When washing dishes in a dishwasher, only run the machine when it is full. This will limit the amount of times the dishwasher is run, greatly decreasing energy costs and water consumption.
9. Invest in New Energy Saving Technology
For older kitchens, saving money means replacing old equipment. Although the cost is high in the beginning, over time you earn that money back in utility bills. Newer technologies have been created with energy savings in mind.
“Go green” has gone from a small-time idea to a globally accepted concept. You can find plenty of highly efficient restaurant equipment at CooksDirect.com or other online distributors. They can help you replace old equipment notorious for high energy consumption like dishwashers and ovens with newer, more efficient products.
10. It Pays to Save Money
Many cities and counties offer energy saving incentives for individuals and corporations who choose to go green. Besides saving hundreds of dollars on your utility bills, you can get money back rebates from the government. To find out more information, visit www.energystar.gov or contact your local city government for a list of rebates offered by federal and city governments.
Energy Saver #10: Be sure to check in with your local government offices to take advantage of government incentives and tax benefits for any of the steps you take in your kitchen to reduce your energy usage, such as the energy star equipment rebates. These incentives go straight to your bottom line, while the steps you take provide continuous benefits for your operation and the environment.
About Jeff Breeden and Cook’s Direct:
Jeff Breeden is active in the Foodservice Industry through his work at Cook’s and as a member of NAFED (National Association of Food Equipment Dealers). During the past 12 years, he has held a variety of roles including project management, priority account service, product research and marketing. In his current responsibility as Chief Merchant, he utilizes his vast experience and expertise to find innovative equipment and supply solutions to meet the ever evolving needs of restaurant and institutional foodservice operations. Cook’s provides a full range of commercial kitchen solutions to correctional facilities, institutions and other large foodservice operations across North America. The company was founded over 10 years ago and is known for its innovative products, strong customer service and overall knowledge of institutional kitchen operations.
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Your household appliances are responsible for a large percentage of the energy consumed in your home. As a matter of fact, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approximates that kitchen appliances account for almost half of the $2,000 that most average families spend on utilities each year. In addition, appliances that are over 10 years old use more energy than their newer counterparts.
The Energy Star classification system was created by the EPA and the US Dept of Energy (DOE). This system identifies home appliances that decrease energy consumption, lower your utility bills and improve the air quality in your home. Energy Star appliances are usually more expensive than traditional models but the savings in daily energy usage will help them pay for themselves in the long term. Some Energy Star appliances can even save you up to half of the energy you use each day.
Understanding Your EnergyGuide Label:
All Energy Star appliances are required to have an EnergyGuide label. This label displays the model number, features, size and capacity of the appliance. In addition, the label estimates the average energy usage and operation costs of the model per year.
Each label also displays a range of energy used per year by similar models so that you can comparison shop and determine if this particular model meets your needs.
Standard Features of Energy Star Appliances:
Refrigerators:
· Use up to 40% less electricity.
· Savings of up to $150 each year.
Dishwasher:
· Use 50% less water.
· Use over 40% less energy.
· Save $90 over the lifetime of your dishwasher.
Clothes Washer:
· Use 50% less water.
· Reduce drying time by extracting more water in the spin cycle.
· Less wear and tear on your clothing.
· Use up to 40% less electricity.
· Savings of up to $110 each year.
Dehumidifier:
· Use between 10 – 20% less electricity.
· Savings of approximately $30 each year.
Household Air Conditioner:
· Use 10% less energy.
· Save approximately $250 over the lifetime of your air conditioner.
Investing in Energy Star appliances will help you save on monthly utility costs and reduce emissions in your home and the environment. It’s an easy way to save yourself some money plus do your part for the environment.
