When you are looking for appliances that use electricity in your home or business, you already know that you should look for those which not only give you value for your money but also exhibit great performance. But apart from this, there are other considerations to think about if you would like your home or business to be more energy efficient and consume less energy.
The ratings
Almost all electrical appliances nowadays come with ratings for energy-efficiency. These labels say something about the efficiency of the product based on its category when it comes to size. For instance, if you have two appliances which are different in size but with the same rating in energy, they would still differ in electricity consumption. To give you a better idea: a combination refrigerator and freezer with an A rating and a capacity of 180 litres may only cost about £40 annually to operate, whilst a larger refrigerator/freezer with a capacity of 525 litres and an A+ rating can set you back about £50 annually to operate.
Basically, what all of this means is that you should look for a product – an electrical appliance – that has the best rating when it comes to energy but which also matches your required size.
Selecting the right appliances
There are a variety of appliances which have their own efficiency rating, and you just need to be aware of this. For instance, microwave ovens are considered more energy efficient than ovens because they use direct energy for heating up the food rather than ovens (especially electric ones) which are designed to heat the air within the oven itself. When choosing a refrigerator, which will likely be on all the time, even in a place of business, you should look for models with a very good rating – why go for an A+ when you can choose an A+++? Choosing such a model will probably save you approximately £190 in your bills over the product’s lifetime. Choosing a television has its own considerations as well. For instance, the larger it is the higher power consumption it will have. You should also know that laptops use less energy (up to 80% less) than desktop computers.
If you are a business, you should also look for energy efficient air conditioning. Nowadays, you have a choice of air conditioning systems which not only provide cool air, but heat as well. These air conditioning systems are also capable of dehumidifying the air and eliminating mould – just ask air conditioning Norwich specialists such as EOC Services.
How to be more energy efficient
You can also do your own bit in order to be more energy efficient and consume less energy. For example, you can be more conscious of leaving your appliances on ‘standby’ mode. On average, households and businesses in the UK actually spend an additional £30 per year simply by leaving their appliances on standby mode. Simply put, standby mode is the energy that an appliance uses when it is ‘off’ yet plugged in. In addition to appliances which can be on standby mode (such as televisions and computers), there are now other electrical products that use a low level of electricity even when not technically being used – these include modems, routers, digital boxes, and even telephones.
The good news though is that there are certain products which can help you reduce your consumption of standby electricity. There are ‘standby savers’, for instance, which let you turn your electrical appliances off their standby mode with a simple click.
