From your fridge to cooking, a kitchen uses a lot of energy and, unfortunately, a lot is unavoidably wasted. Especially in a student household, with several people cooking their own meals every day, and a kitchen usually containing more than one fridge and freezer, the energy bills can add up!
Luckily there are many small things you can do to help reduce your kitchen's energy use that make a big difference in the long run.
Here are our top tips for cutting down in the kitchen:
1. Your fridge uses 6% more energy every degree cooler it is. Check the freezers and fridge aren’t excessively cold. You should use a fridge thermometer as the dials aren't always accurate. Remember - your fridge should always be below 5°C and a freezer should be around -18°C to protect you from harmful bacteria.
2. If there’s any ice in your fridge, remove it immediately. Ice acts as insulation forcing the appliance to use more energy, increasing your bills up to 70p per day! Freezers are especially prone to ice formation and the energy savings are substantial.
3. When the fridge is emptied at the end of term, fill containers with water and place them in the fridge. The cooling circuit doesn’t have to work as hard to cool the water as it has more thermal inertia.
4. Try cooking with a housemate. It’s a good bonding experience and saves money on ingredients. Most important though is less energy is wasted heating up large batches
It’s hard to quantify how much saving this makes. It is probably in a similar range to repeatedly boiling too much water – around £ 10-15 a year.
5. Covering pots and pans whilst cooking helps to trap heat, and can save about 3% in energy costs per pan. You can also save energy by making sure you use the right-sized pan for what you are cooking and place your pan over to right sized hob ring to reduce energy wastage.
6. A decent oven (be careful of this one in Selly Oak) can retain the required temperature for up to 10 minutes after being switched off. So switching your oven off early can save energy without affecting your meal.
Applying all these tips will save you in the order of £ 20 per person and 100 kg CO2 a year.
