Category — Green Appliances

If you’re looking for an energy- efficient kitchen stove, make sure you check out convection ovens before making your final choice.  Did you know that convection ovens are much more efficent than traditional ovens?  In fact they use one-third less energy, because they continuously circulate air around food, causing it to cook faster.

Convection ovens are available in counter top versions which are about the sames size as a microwave oven, or as a feature on full-size kitchen stoves.  My Frigidaire range can be used as a regular oven or a convection oven. It has a switch for turning the convection fan on and off.

And since we’re on the topic of green kitchen appliances, don’t forget to use your microwave oven whenever you can.  Microwaves use two-thirds less energy than traditional kitchen ranges!  There are also many microwave/convection oven combination units on the market today.

Find out more about energy efficient appliances at Energy Star.

Whether you’re cleaning out the garage, or completing an entire green remodel, chances are you’re going to end up with a few things such as old batteries, leftover building materials, paint, and fluorescent light bulbs that you simply aren’t sure how to safely dispose of . According to Consumer Reports, here are a few resources for recycling those not-so-everyday household items.

Recycle Rechargeable Batteries: From power tools to cell phones, it seems almost everything requires a rechargeable battery, but what do you do with them when they die? The Rechargeable Battery Recycle Corporation (RBRC) has over 50,000 drop off locations for recycling rechargeable batteries including major retailers such as Home Depot, Circuit City, and Best Buy.

Recycle Household Appliances: Switching to green household appliances? Here are two resources for recycling refrigerators, freezers, and washing machines. Appliance Recycling Centers of America offers free pickup of old appliances in parts of California, Georgia, Minnesota, Ohio, Texas, and Wisconsin. Jaco Environmental recycles freezers and refrigerators for a small pickup fee in parts of California, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington.

Recycle Construction Materials: The Construction Waste Management Database is a government sponsored service which allows users to search by zip code for recycling locations that accept construction materials including carpet, roofing materials, lighting, paint, flooring, etc.

Of all household appliances, refrigerators are near the top of the list when it comes to energy consumption. If you’re looking for a green refrigerator to help you save energy, consider the following tips:

Read the Labels: A great first step in selecting green household appliances, refrigerators included, is to narrow down your search by reading the energy consumption labels on the appliances. By doing so, you’ll quickly be able to determine which appliances are the most energy-efficient.

Don’t Buy More than You Need: Larger refrigerators require more energy than smaller ones. Buying a large refrigerator when a small one is sufficient, results in wasted energy due to continuously cooling space that you simply don’t need. On the flip side, if your family currently requires two refrigerators, you might want to consider upgrading to a single, but large, energy-efficient refrigerator, because one large refrigerator requires less energy than two smaller ones.

Style: When it comes to saving energy, the greenest refrigerators are typically top or bottom freezer models. However, you should always pay attention to energy saver appliance labels as manufacturers are continuously developing new styles of green appliances which consume less energy than their predecessors.

For a typical family of 4, laundry is truly a never-ending chore. And, with more than 40 gallons of water and a cup of laundry detergent consumed with every load, laundry takes its toll on the environment too. In fact, if you’re looking for ways to save water and conserve energy, then adding green appliances to your laundry room is a great place to start.

The Staber model HXW2304 is an energy-efficient washing machine that uses 67% less water per load, 50% less energy, and 75% less detergent. It works using a patented horizontal axis agitation process, and it’s the only top loading washer in the U.S. of its kind. The unique design of this water conserving washing machine eliminates the middle agitator bar found in traditional washing machines, so you can fit up to twice as much laundry inside.

In addition to the environmental benefits such as conserving water and saving energy, adding an eco-friendly washing machine to your green home can help you save a few dollars too. Staber Industries, Inc. estimates that this model saves consumers an average of $300 per year.

What comes to mind when you think of solar powered cooking? A caveman frying bacon on a hot rock maybe? Well, there is a modern day way of getting heat from the sun. If you are looking to live the green life, then you definitely want to learn about ways to cook with less fuel burning products.

This is a solar box cooker that can be made at home! You just need plywood or cardboard, which need to be placed inside of another wooden box. Fiberglass is used to insulate the materials within the box and there is a mirror on the lid directing the sunlight to the contents in the box under the glass. This can reach temperatures as high as 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

This sun oven gets even hotter than the box cooker because it is more concentrated (check out the extra reflectors). You can cook all types of items from cookies to pasta.

Of course there is a downfall when it comes to getting free energy – you can only cook during daylight hours (between 11 am and 5 pm) and those hours have to be sunny. So cloudy days and nighttime hours are when the kitchen closes.

But there is good news. If you don’t mind spending more money to really live green, you can purchase solar panels to energize your home, including your kitchen and conventional stove.

With some flat screen TVs using more energy than a large refrigerator, its no wonder green living advocates are looking for energy conserving flat screens. Sony is set to release the Bravia KDL-32JE1, a 32 inch flat screen LCD TV, later this month, with expectations to release in the US soon thereafter. The eco friendly TV uses 82 watts of energy while its similar sized flat screen counterparts use 125 watts. That’s less than half of the energy consumed by traditional non-flat screen TVs. Interested in reducing carbon emissions? Using this green flat screen TV in place of a traditional one will reduce your annual carbon emissions by 175 lbs.

Did you know that washing your dishes with a dishwasher saves more water than doing them by hand? Thank goodness- no hand washing!  If you’re looking for green kitchen appliances, check out the water conserving automatic dishwashers made by Neff, a British company.  The Neff S5409 features a Triple A rating for washing, energy and drying, and the Neff S5409 dishwasher uses only 12 litres of water, only 3.17 gallons per load!  Other features of this green dishwasher include a time delayed start option, multiple drying settings, and an all stainless steel interior.  The energy efficient dishwasher fills with detergent from the top, and it has an automatic sensor for detecting when the dishwasher detergent is low.   Go green and have a great excuse for purchasing a brand new energy efficient dishwasher!

As a continuation of my last post about stainless steel water bottles, let’s talk about another green alternative to buying bottled water - water filtration pitchers. By filtering your own tap water at home, hopefully you won’t feel the need to rush out for “pure” bottled water. Check out this water filtration pitcher made by Lotus- actually it’s more of a complete water filtration system than just a water pitcher. It uses a 2-stage water filtration process, which includes a patented ozone infusion process followed up by carbon filtering. The water filter lasts about one year when filtering one gallon of water per day. I love the side dispenser on this filtration system. According to Green and More, the Lotus Water Filtration System removes 99.9% of known pathogens from tap, well and even lake water. Match up this green water filtration system with the stainless steel water bottles in my last post and you’ll have an eco-friendly alternative to bottled water in your very own kitchen.

One of the biggest energy guzzlers in many homes is the water heater. With an average family of four, daily showers and household chores can deplete the contents of a fifty gallon water heater in no time, resulting in high utility bills. If you’re looking for a greener, more energy efficient water heater, here’s a green alternative that may work for your household. AirGenerate’s AirTap™ water heater uses mostly air and a small amount of electricity to heat the water. The unit attaches atop any standard electric or gas water heater and acts as a heat pump to pull the heat from the surrounding air, compress it, and send it into your water heater to heat the water inside. According to AirGenerate, their AirTap™ heat pump water heater uses 2.5 times less energy than standard water heaters. Along with energy efficient water heaters and other household appliances, don’t forget one of the simplest steps in conserving energy and water—taking shorter showers!