Energy Efficiency and Saving Tips in the Kitchen

Every area or part of the home can be transformed into something that can help in saving energy. Whether it is the bedroom, living room, bathroom, garage, or kitchen, you can do something in order to cut your annual heating, cooling, and electricity costs.

But for this article, let’s put our focus on what can be done in the kitchen while you cook and prepare your food.

(photo credit: StarEnergyPartners.com)

Treehugger.com, in an article called “How to improve energy efficiency while cooking” has very interesting tips you can follow without a fuzz. Take the examples below:

Match the cooking method to the meal

Minimize the area that needs to be heated. In other words, don’t heat up the entire oven to cook a single piece of fish; a toaster oven or stovetop pan would be a better choice. Use tools designed for specific tasks, i.e. crockpots for long, slow braises and stews, rice cookers. There are tradeoffs: microwaves, while being efficient and cheap in terms of energy use, compromise food quality.

Use the proper cookware

Don’t put a small pot on a large element. According to SmarterHouse, a 6” pan on an 8” electric burner wastes more than 40 percent of the heat produced by the burner. However, choose the smallest appropriate pan to do the job since it requires less energy to heat. If possible, invest in high-quality cookware with sturdy bottoms.

A cheap pan with a warped bottom can use 50 percent more energy to boil water. “The ideal pan has a slightly concave bottom – when it heats up, the metal expands and the bottom flattens out. An electric element is significantly less efficient if the pan does not have good contact with the element.”

Glass and ceramic are more efficient in the oven than metal, allowing you to cook foods at 25°F lower in the same amount of time. Copper-bottomed pots also heat up faster.

Maintain your appliances

Keeping a stove and microwave clean can help with efficiency. When burner pans fill up with food waste, this absorbs heat and reduces burner efficiency. If they’re shiny, they reflect the heat back up to the pan. Microwaves work best when there are no food particles inside.

Use the self-cleaning feature rarely, but when you do, start it after using the oven to cook so it’s already hot.

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It may be true that buying new cookware is expensive, but in the long run, if you’re using the right ones for the specific food you cook, you will end up saving energy in cooking. Well, it’s hard to imagine how that is possible but once you’ve tried it, it’ll give the realization that it indeed will work.

(photo credit: Danze.com)

Meanwhile, the article called “Energy Efficiency in the Kitchen” from GreenHotelier.org may talk about how to be more energy efficient in a commercial kitchen, but the tips can also be applied in the residential setting.

The three ways to be energy efficient, according to the article, include that of purchasing new cooking equipment, retrofitting an old one, and seeking professional help.

Purchasing new equipment

When investing in new equipment, think in terms of the life-cycle costs, a sum of all recurring and one-time costs over a lifespan of a product. This should include factors such as preheat energy consumption, idle energy rate usage, production capacity, operating hours per day, and maintenance and disposal costs. When looking for green appliances and energy-efficient equipment, ideally choose one certified as energy efficient by a scheme such as the European Union Energy Label, Japan’s Top Runner programme or US ENERGY STAR (a steam cooker with the ENERGY STAR label, for instance, is up to 90% more efficient than a model without it). Labels introduced in Brazil, China, Tunisia and Iran use the European Union Energy Label as a model, while schemes in Thailand and South Korea follow the Australian Energy Rating scheme.

Retrofitting old equipment

If it isn’t practical to replace all kitchen equipment or redesign your kitchen, retrofit old equipment with high efficiency parts and accessories. Consider installing control technology, which automatically switches off or turns down unused cooking equipment. Automatic pan sensors are available for gas and electric hobs, which turn the hob off or down after pan removal. Install a door closer on refrigerators, hang strip curtains on in-coolers to maintain moisture levels, or use programmable thermostats to automatically adjust ventilation and air conditioning.

Seeking professional help

Whether it’s a new build or major refurbishment, consulting an energy consultant or a commercial kitchen designer and installation team is advisable. UK-based Space Catering Equipment, for instance, has introduced a “green footprint” scheme to help businesses identify and incorporate kitchen equipment or design features that use less energy and recover capital costs more quickly. The siting of equipment is important, explains Space Catering Equipment managing director Mike Mellor: “For instance, by locating refrigeration compressors remotely and taking the heat away from the kitchen, refrigerators and freezers will work far more efficiently and use less energy, and it will reduce unwanted heat gain in the kitchen.”

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It really does not matter which fuel source you’re using – the thing is when trying to cut down on energy costs in the kitchen, seeking the help of a professional, such as an energy consultant will help you figure out which part or components can be tweaked or improved to achieve your objective.

Finally, here are some more friendly tips from MotherEarthNews.com, from the article “Tips for Saving Energy in the Kitchen,” and particularly focusing on how to save energy when cooking.

• Use as small a pan, as little water, as little preheat time, and as little peeking in the oven as possible.
• For stove-top cooking, consider using a pressure cooker. By building steam pressure, they cook at a higher temperature, reducing cooking time and energy.
• Keep burner pans (the metal pans under the burners that catch grease) clean so they’ll be more effective at reflecting heat to the cookware. Blackened burner pans absorb a lot of heat, reducing burner efficiency.
• If you use electric burners, solid disk elements, and radiant elements under ceramic glass, use flat-bottomed cookware that rests evenly on the burner surface. The ideal pan has a slightly concave bottom because when it heats, the metal expands and the bottom flattens out. Electric elements are considerably less efficient if the pan does not have good contact.
• Always cook with the lid on your pans. Cooking without lids can take three times as much energy.
• If you have a gas range, make sure that the gas burns blue. If the flame is yellow, the fuel is burning inefficiently and the range should be checked by the gas company.
• To reduce cooking time, defrost foods in the refrigerator prior to cooking.
• Food cooks more efficiently in ovens where air can circulate freely. Don’t lay foil on the racks. If possible, stagger pans on upper and lower racks to improve air flow.
• Cook double portions when possible, and freeze the remainder. Less energy is required to reheat than to cook the dish over again.
• Using glass or ceramic pans in ovens allows you to reduce cooking temperature by 25°F with no extra time required.
• Microwaves operate better when the interior is clean. Spills will absorb energy waves just as readily as the cooking food.
• See the original article here.

In the end, you might feel those tips above are just too burdensome to follow and embrace. Well, you really don’t have to do them if you are okay with the monthly costs you are shouldering. But one thing you need to understand is that you can do a lot of things to save energy, but it will certainly require you to make significant effort to succeed.