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 Kitchen, Bath & Beyond Kitchen • A big refrigerator can be a wasteful refrigerator. Buy a refrigerator that's just right for the size of your family. Buy an Energy Star® model to ensure it uses energy efficiently. • Clean the coils. Regularly vacuuming the condenser coils behind the refrigerator increases its efficiency. • Two refrigerators are not better than one. Saving an old refrigerator and putting it in the garage or basement will likely cost you more in energy than in money you'll save storing on-sale food items. That's because old units (18 years or older) are normally 35% less efficient than newer ones. If you absolutely need an extra freezer, use a chest style which is much more efficient than an upright model—and make sure it's a newer energy-saving model. • Close the door! Keeping it closed saves energy. When cooking, pull all items from the fridge for one meal at the same time. That way you'll only open the door once. Do the same thing when putting items from that meal away. • Keep a lid on it. Leaving uncovered dishes in the refrigerator not only allows food items to absorb unwanted flavors, the moisture released makes the refrigerator work harder. • Cool it on the counter. By letting foods cool before you put them in the refrigerator, you'll save a lot on refrigerator energy costs. You're cooking now • Go slow. Change your menu to include stews, soups and other items that can be cooked in a crock pot. They consume far less energy than a conventional stove. • Let it simmer. Start your stove on high, let liquids boil, then turn the stove down to let the liquid simmer. • A flat pan is the best pan. At least when you're cooking on an electric stove. That's because a flat pan makes better contact with the entire heating element to use heat more efficiently. • Cover the pan. Using lids on pots and pans retains heat for faster cooking and lower energy costs. • Do the wave. The microwave, that is. It uses half the power of a conventional oven and can often cook items in a quarter of the time. • Don't be a temp fanatic. Items that call for cooking at oven temperatures within 50º of each other can be placed in the oven and cooked simultaneously for significant energy savings. • No peeking. When the oven door stays closed, food cooks faster and you'll save energy. If you have to look, turn on the oven light and watch through the window. Doing the Dishes Do's and Don'ts • Don't be a hand washer. Dishwashers do the job better, they're more sanitary and they use less water and energy than you will. • Fill it, don't kill it. A full dishwasher is more efficient than a partially filled one. But don't overfill, or the dishes will end up dirty and you'll have to do them over. • Don't do your dishwasher's job. Prewashing or rinsing defeats the whole purpose of having a dishwasher. Save the hand suds only for when food is dried or burnt on. • Use “rinse and hold” sparingly. This feature works most efficiently when you use it on dishes from an entire meal, not a couple of snack plates. • It's OK to use the pot scrubber feature. It heats the water to a higher temperature, which is preferable to turning your water heater thermostat above 120º F. Bath
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