Green Appliances

The concept of green homes and the actual needs of modern civilization brought the need of adapting the concepts of environmental protection, ecology conservation, and energy saving to the inside of our homes. There is no need to be engaged with the green home construction movement to still do our best to maintain our modern lifestyle and preserve energy and natural resources as well.

You might want to continue using the advantages of technology and the comfort it brings to all extent, but also adhere in some way to energy and resources savings. It is not just a new trend; it is a change that governments themselves encourage. 

Therefore, using green appliances in our homes can be our way of contributing to this change of mind that is taking place. Energy conservation and energy efficiency are two principles that we must have clear in our minds and focus on. In our normal lifestyle, taking advantages of all home appliances, we can still adhere to it doing a proper use of energy and having the most possible green appliances. Energy conservation simply means not wasting unneeded energy, and energy efficiency refers to using the least amount of energy to get any job or task done. That is what we intend to do with the utilization of green appliances.

To start up, just seek for the Energy Star label on any appliance you purchase. Energy Star is a Department of Energy program that can save $14 billions on bills a year and save enormous amounts of energy. By the way, logging onto Energy Star website allows you to search by type of appliance and get the information on that precise kind of apparel that follows energy efficient concepts and are eco-friendly. Energy Star labels can be found both in major home appliances as well as in small devices.

Energy efficient home appliances might be a bit more expensive, but that is about the one time investment, over time energy savings will pay for it.

Besides purchasing Energy Star labelled products, there are some things you have to consider to make of your home a green appliances home.

-Many devices, such as cellular phones, use chargers or so called external power adapters. Never leave them plugged in when not in use. The amount of wasted energy can seem too small for you, but think big, it is just a tiny part of a whole.

-Do not leave your TV, DVD player, audio or computer on stand-by mode. Turn all power off, or just unplug them. Avoid small leaks of energy this way.

-Do not pre wash your dishes; you are wasting water this way.  Some people even use dish washing water or showering water to water their plants.

-                         When cooking small dishes, try to use the microwave instead of the convention oven, because it uses 75% less electricity.  Also remember to maintain the inside surface of your microwave oven clean for a more effective cooking and therefore energy consumption.  A good idea when cooking in your microwave is to do it directly in the serving dishes, it saves both time and water form dishwashing.

-                          -If you like conventional ovens anyway and are buying a new one, bear in mind that self-cleaning ovens do have higher electricity consumption.

-                         Still in the kitchen, even though gas is more efficient it is also a fact that it causes more pollution (carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide to mention a couple). Also, when it comes to cook tops, induction ones are the most energy efficient. But it is not only the green appliances you have, is the way you use them too. For instance, if you are making yourself a cup of tea, then boil just a cup of water, there is no reason why to boil a full pot.

-When it comes to refrigerators, you can seek Energy Star labelled too, but some other tips could be useful too.  Of course, larger models consume more electricity; you do not need to waste money and energy in a refrigerator that is not fully used. Side by side freezers/refrigerators are less electricity efficient than those with a freezer in the top or bottom part. Manual defrost is less electricity consuming than automatic defrost, but harder to find in bigger models. Through the doors dispensers will increase energy consumption too. Of course, avoid exposing your refrigerator to direct sun light for a proper functioning.

-Regarding clothes washers, horizontal axis units have less electricity consumption and use about 1/3 of water. Whenever possible, do cold washing, or at least warm washing, hot washing might be unnecessary waste.

-There is much to do in the bathroom too. Avoid typical bathtubs as much as possible, take a shower. Installing a showerhead will reduce water consumption to 1/3. Lowering water heaters thermostat is another way to reduce amounts of spent energy. And if you can have tank less water heater, you will save even more.

So you can see there is much you can do for a better use of your green appliances, just takes some changes in your devices and in the use you make of them.