Anyone want to put these kitchen related energy saving actions into order or add to them?

• Only boil the amount of water that you require
• Use cool water washing powders and low temperature washes.
• Pre-wash rinse with cold water
• Cover pans when cooking
• Fill dishwasher and use short cycles when possible
• Hang washing on a clothes line rather than using a tumble drier
• Set fridge to 5C
• Set freezer to between -15 and -18C ensure seals are in good condition
• Use A or A+ rated appliances
• Switch off appliances at the wall when not in use
• Fit LED lighting
• Thaw frozen food in the refrigerator
• Don’t cook at a raging boil
• Consider doing it by hand rather than with a machine
• Defrost fridges and freezers when there is a build-up of frost
• Ensure good ventilation to the backs of fridges and freezers

Hi,
Good list. I think everyone could save a lot by doing an energy audit. I have managed to get my electrical consumption down from 14 kwh/day to 5 kwh/day. Mainly by replacing old worn out appliances with the best energy efficient ones that are not silly money. Years ago I went from a desktop to a laptop (150 w to 30 w). My laptop gave up the ghost and I tried to repair but to no avail. New more powerful laptop with better screen is now 15 w. This is 50% of the old one.(used 10 + hours/day). My partner browses the internet a lot for our business. For Christmas I bought her a tablet. This charges with .05 kwh i.e. 50 wh and lasts days. It switches on/off instantly and from what I can work out probably uses a few watts. This is a reduction of probably 95% of her laptop. Another big one as mentioned above was a large fridge freezer (we store a lot of home veg/cooking) The one I bought averages 1kwh/day (50% of old 15 year old one). So a good idea if you are buying new goods is to cost in energy consumption (my fridge freezer will have paid for itself over about 8 years ).

Richard

Hi,
Yes very good. DHW is an energy biggie. I have a gas combi but we are not big hot water users any way. One thing I did a long time ago was to change from an electrical kettle to a gas one with a whistle. Obviously this cuts electrical consumption but adds to gas consumption. Not sure on the overall greeness of that.

Richard

Going off subject here so might start a new thread, but where does all the energy from hot water go? Think carefully.

Hi Ringi,
I would never replace seviceable stuff unless it was a real gas guzzler. The old fridge freezer was 1/2 the size of the new one and used twice as much power(and it was over 15 years old needing lots of defrosting). The new one also enables me to store our own produce a real bonus for us and means the real payback in reality is a couple of years. So I would say more than reasonable and definately not just to save energy. I look on the long term impact - better than any pension contribution I can think of.

Richard

If your making mashed potato, or any other mash, chop the veg up into tiny bits and poor boiling water over them, then simmer for a few minutes, no need to be 'Scottish' about it.
We tend to overcook food in the UK.

If you use an oven, you don't have to wait for it to warm up for some things, just give them an extra few minutes. An example of this is a Pizza. Takes about 15 minutes to heat my oven up, then the pizza is in for 8 minutes, so 23 minutes in all. Or just put it in cold for 16 minutes.

I have a feeling that the 'A' rating of an appliance is a rolling average, so this years A++ is better than last years, or something just as confusing.

I think that the majority of the heat in hot water finishes up in the house even shower water goes out of the house at close to indoor temperature. We leave water in sink bath pans to coo down so waste as little as possible.

Don't put things in the fridge that don't need to go there (like preserves, bread, potatoes, eggs...), so you can have a smaller fridge. Use fresh food instead of frozen - this might not save you energy, but along the whole production and transport chain.

Have a larder at lower temperature (easy most time of the year in the UK), or reduce room temperature in your kitchen (if you have a separate kitchen). Easy for me with my non-insulated kitchen (usually at 16-18°C), but what do people with super insulated houses do?

Oh, and something basic for the list in the OP: Use a washing-up bowl or a plug - don't wash up under running water.

And take an interest:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04vf95h

You can use a Thermos Flask to cook rice and pasta in. Just remember to shake it often and it takes a bit longer.
Most rice only takes 3 to 6 minutes to cook, pasta less than 10.

One area of catering is the waste, especially container waste. I generate about 3 kg a month of glass waste alone. Trouble is I cannot get a suitable alternative in a cardboard container.
When thinking about waste, pre-made food is often good as near enough everything is edible, and 'back at the factory' they use the bits we hate for other foods (lips, teats and testicles), the bone is ground up for fertiliser and when there is nothing but a grey sludge left, that is put in the bio-digester and turned into gas.

You can use every part of a pig, except the squeak.

Works the same way, but does not take up much room, does not smell, easy to clean and is not itchy.

Posted By: markocosicShopping little and often only works if you're walking or cycling of course.

Yes, I did put that caveat in. Or passing the store anyway. My 'corner shop' is a large Tesco, the other one is a Morrisons and I think there is a Lidl too.

Posted By: markocosicMake it clear that "do it by hand" does NOT apply to washing up.

This is a tricky one. If the amount of washing up is set by what can go in to fill a dish washer up, then it may be correct. Certainly is not for two mugs, a teaspoon, knife and a side plate, or my typical breakfast 'mess'.
So really down to lifestyle and occupancy. Also it should be assumed that when washing up by hand that it is done in the most efficient manner, not the least efficient i.e. start with the clean stuff and work to the dirty stuff. Too often I have seen glasses washed up after greasy pans.

Posted By: squirrelThere is no one-size-fits-all rule about how to do your washing up for example.

There should be, if you had seen how some of the morons I have worked with in a kitchen do the washing up

Given the '*don't* do it by hand' discussion above, I think you have to take your washing-up round to the neighbours, or driver it round to the in-laws, or something.

"What if you don't have a dishwasher?"

Buy one, plus a cupboard's worth of mugs/plates/knives/forks/glasses to match, and wash once a week rather than daily?


If you're truly the opposite extreme (batchelor in a flat) then the soviet approach might justify washing up by hand: Kitchens in the former USSR are tiny because you'd only ever have a quick coffee or breakfast there: cooking is far more efficient when done communally and they'd all be so rich under the communist system that they'd always eat in restaurants. They were only half wrong...


I'd absolutely LOVE communal dishwashers and laundries. Glorified electric milk float full of maids. They do your laundry; clean your dishes; tidy the house. Done properly (en-masse) there are definite economies of scale; certainly for clothes if not dishes so I'd say you're onto something Nick; a hybrid of the USSr's restaurant vision and the Englishman's home is his castle. ;-)


4 houses/day; £50/house; £1000/week gross: not bad given the skillset and equipment required.


Alas the tax system is designed to create unemployment/discourage such services: you could pay me £5 to clean your can and I could pay you £5 to do my laundry in an ideal world, but seeing as you'd need to earn £20 to pay me £10 and HMRC £10 in order that I get £5 in my pocket after HMRC have taken their £5, it ceases being viable. (20% is about the limit on marginal income tax before you destroy all exchanges of services in this manner; 10% is fine)


Agreed on pre-rinse. I *never* pre rinse and only need to pull bones/plastic/foil out of the dishwasher strainer. Buy decent dishwasher/detergent and the enzymes will turn everything into brown goo; even the fats that "always block your drain" according to mother or grandma are happily *digested* into something less nasty for the sewers. Pre-soak occasionally by swilling water around a warm pan/tray yes, but pre-rinse no.


Bring domestic science back to the curriculum perhaps?

We were taught how to cook (mostly pies and cakes 'cos that's what the little old lady liked best) but never how to get red wine out of carpets, chewing gum off jackets, or shine shoes etc. That only came from parents.