Eco-friendly Kitchen Tips - Part Three

Could you incorporate any of the following tips in your kitchen? Save energy and some money by:

• Being Refrigerator frugal - Your refrigerator probably consumes more electricity than any other household appliance.  Ice makers and cold water dispensers can increase your energy usage by aver ten percent (consider this when choosing to use them or not).  If you have an older fridge with coils in the rear, keep them a couple of inches from the wall, and vacuum/dust them twice a year (the dust build-up reduces efficiency).
  
• Using water wisely at the kitchen sink - When cleaning vegetables and fruit, put them in a bowl of water and then clean them, rather than running the tap.   Use a low-flow aerator (can save you as much as ten litres of water a minute). Re-use water used to steam vegetables as part of the cooking liquid for grains or pasta.  Rather than empty the left over water from cooking and boiling, let the water cool and water any plants inside or outside your home.
  
• Looking for the Energy Star - When purchasing any appliance, especially one for the kitchen, look for an energy star appliance, and look at what your typical savings might be, all energy star appliances are not created equal.

Below are links to past posts on this topic:

Eco-friendly Kitchen Tips - part one
Eco-friendly Kitchen Tips - part two