Energy Hungry Appliances
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As anyone who pays bills will know, an unexpectedly high energy bill can be annoying at best and a significant issue at worst. The fact of the matter is, regardless of how careful you are with your appliance usage, some just use more energy than others, and the Airway team are going to run through the most energy-hungry appliances in the home.
Plasma TV
This particular type of television is one of the most energy hungry appliances that is commonly found in the home. On average, a flat screen plasma TV will cost £95 per year to run. Of course, this can depend on how much you use them – one energy-saving tip would be to turn the TV off when you’re finished with it; avoid the standby feature. Alternatively, if you’re in the market for a new television, opt for an LCD TV rather than a plasma.
Washing Machine
An essential part of a home, the washing machine is used regularly. Depending on the amount of people in your home, the frequency of usage might change, but a single hour-long wash above 30 degrees can equate to around 2.5kWh/35p per hour in energy. The average home spends around £23 a year running their washing machines, so where possible use sparingly and opt for colder washes if you can.
Tumble Dryer
A very convenient appliance, but an energy-hungry one nonetheless. In fact, they actually cost more to run than washing machines, with an average consumption of 392kWH or £55 a year. There of course will be times where you need a tumble dryer to get things dry quickly, but regular use of a dryer will soon see your energy spending increase.
Fridge-Freezer
Again, this is an essential part of a home, but it uses its fair share of energy. The typical fridge-freezer will use around £62 of energy a year. If you’re in the market for a new fridge, look for one with an A+ efficiency rating or better – all new models made after July 2012 must meet or exceed this rating – and enjoy lower energy consumption.
Dishwasher
Using a dishwasher is much easier than washing up, but it also costs to do so. A dishwasher uses around £42 each year running a dishwasher. To keep costs down, only use the dishwasher when it’s full – it’s a waste of money to run it for only a few plates and bowls.
PC
A desktop PC will use around £24 a year in energy. While that doesn’t seem like too much, consider that a laptop will only use around £4 of energy over the course of a year. Of course, this depends on how much you use your computer. To save energy, avoid using standby mode and just turn your computer off at the socket when you’re not using it.
Printers with Fax
Using around £23 per year in energy, printers with included fax machine costs more than its fair share of money to run. Be sure to only turn it on when you need it, rather than keeping it on standby or turned on all the time.
Electric Ovens
A cooker with an electric hob will use around £46 of energy per year in the average UK household. If you need to check on food when using the oven, look through the door rather than opening it. Opening the door allows heat to escape, which means the oven needs to use more energy to heat up again.
Electric Shower
This is one of the more surprising entries in this list of energy-hungry appliances. Depending on the power rating of your shower, a 10 minute shower a day could cost between £64.10 and £92.31 per person per year. Reducing your shower use by just one minute a day can save up to £9 a year.
Electric Kettle
The problem with kettles is not the appliance itself – they are extremely useful for our daily cups of tea and coffee, our cooking and even cleaning certain things. The problem lies within the way we use them; around ¾ of people overfill their kettles, which means more energy is required to boil the water. By filling the kettle with only the water you need, the kettle will boil faster and its average energy usage of £24 will be reduced.
As you can see, there are several appliances in our homes that have a large appetite for energy. Some of them are essential, such as fridges, ovens and washing machines, but others less so, like printers. Regardless of their importance, using your appliances sensibly and efficiently can help keep your energy bills down.
Airway are proud to provide comprehensive, professional and effective electrical services for domestic and commercial customers around Cambridge and the surrounding areas. For more information about what we do, please get in touch with us today and we’ll be more than happy to help.