Energy Efficient Appliances

Whether it’s to save money or reduce your carbon footprint there are plenty of reasons to be mindful of your appliance’s energy consumption. Energy saving appliances can help save money on your bills, while special features can help you save money and waste in other ways like reducing your food waste or water usage. Energy efficient appliances can help you save money on your bills, with some switches helping to save up to £100 per year, keep reading to find some of the most energy efficient appliances on the market and find out how buying energy saving appliances can help save money on your bills.

Energy Efficient Refrigeration Appliances

Investing in a highly rated energy efficient fridge freezer can help save a significant amount of energy. As one of the only appliances left on 24 hours a day investing in the best energy efficient fridge you can will make a big difference to your bills, for example a D rated fridge freezer will save around £510 in its lifetime compared to a G rated model. It’s worth checking the energy labels when comparing energy saving fridge freezers as the annual consumption is listed on the label, look for where it says kWh/annum, the lower the number the less energy you will use in a year. For example a C rated 70/30 fridge freezer uses 163 Kwh/annum while an E rated 70/30 from the same brand uses 238 kWh/annum.

If you want to go further in your pursuit of a green lifestyle look out for special features which help to reduce waste. For example the Vita Fresh drawer from Bosch holds the temperature at 0°C keeping your meat and fish fresher for longer and reducing food waste. Similarly, the Liebherr Bio-Fresh drawers are adapted to keep different foods at the optimum temperature and humidity for freshness whether it be meat, fruit and veg, or fish.

Something else to consider when shopping for an energy efficient fridge-freezer is size, smaller models will sometimes use less energy than larger higher rated models as it takes less energy to cool a smaller space. Consider how much food shopping you do and choose your size accordingly. This will also help to reduce food waste as studies show we don’t like to see empty space in the fridge so will over-buy food to fill it. 

Energy Efficient Washing Machines

An energy efficient washing machine will help to cut your bills not only for electricity but also for water. The best energy saving washing machines, with high energy ratings, could save around £95 over its lifetime compared to a G-rated model. Energy efficient washing machines come in a range of capacities so you can have an efficient wash no matter the size of your household, take a look at some of our top picks for energy efficient washing machines below.

There are lots of great features on washing machines these days to help you save energy. Look for fuzzy logic when shopping for your machine, this clever technology weighs your wash load and adjusts the water and cycle length for the most efficient wash. If you need to do several smaller loads look for machines with an express, rapid or 20 minute wash function, this way you don’t waste water and energy doing a full wash for a half load.  It’s also worth looking for brushless motor machines, which have less friction in the motor, not only does this mean a quiet wash it also means the machine works more efficiently, lowering the energy usage. Hotpoint’s Gentle Power technology releases a stream of water through the top of the drum ensuring that the water is evenly distributed into the garments so the machine doesn’t have to work as hard to thoroughly was the clothes, this clever feature can save up to 65% energy and 59% water in a load.

You can also save money in other ways with auto-dosing technology such as Hotpoint AutoDose or Miele CapDosing, with these functions your machine will measure the load and dispense the correct amount of detergent for the load so you never waste detergent. This way you can save money by buying detergent less often.

Energy Efficient Tumble Dryers

Although drying clothes outdoors on the washing line is the most energy efficient way to do it, with the British weather being what it is, an energy efficient tumble dryer is a convenient alternative. Tumble dryers use an energy rating scale of A+++ to G, an A+++ rated energy efficient tumble dryer could save £455 over its lifetime over an A rated machine.

Heat pump tumble dryers are the most energy efficient tumble dryers as they recycle the heat from the machine back into the drum without having to constantly heat fresh air.

Choosing an energy saving tumble drier is a great way to save energy but you can also look out for key features like drying sensors which sense when your clothes are dry and can stop the cycle early if needed so you don’t waste energy. Miele’s Eco Speed setting can dry your laundry in around 20 minutes less time with optimum energy efficiency reducing both time and energy usage.

If you want to go that extra mile you can look for Candy’s EasyCase feature, the water tank of the dryer is housed inside the porthole and has a handy pouring spout so you can reuse the water for watering your plants!

Energy Efficient Dishwashers

It may surprise you to find out that an energy efficient dishwasher may be more economical in water usage than washing up by hand. On average washing up uses around 9 litres of water to wash up two place settings while a standard size energy efficient dishwasher uses 2.1 litres per two place settings. Plus washing up you have to change the water regularly whereas an average dishwasher can was 13 settings in one go, in fact the best energy efficient dishwashers can use as little as 7.7 litres per cycle meaning they can wash 13 place settings with less water than it would take to wash two by hand.

Of course, the other things to consider when looking for energy efficient dishwashers is the energy usage. Energy labels can help you find the best option here as their grading is based on energy usage instead of water. For the best efficiency choose a higher capacity dishwasher with an energy rating of C or higher, this way you will get the most economical water use as well as high energy efficiency.

You can also look out for specific features which help to save energy like the Neff Zeolith Drying system which uses natural minerals which absorb water and release heat reducing the time and energy it takes to dry your dishes. Some dishwashers like those from Miele use adapted consumption meaning they sense the load in the dishwasher and reduce the water usage as needed.

Energy Efficient Ovens

Ovens are rated on a scale of D to A+++ though the highest rated energy efficient ovens on the market at the moment are A++ rated. Upgrading from an A rated oven to an energy efficient oven with an A++ rating can save up to 40% per year on the running cost.

There are some features which can help improve the efficiency of your oven such as triple glazed doors which help to insulate the oven and reduce heat loss so it doesn’t have to heat up as option. You can also look out for features like the AEG fast heat up feature which helps get your oven up to temperature faster, reducing the overall cooking time.

If you want to save a little money on cleaning supplies you can also look out for pyrolytic cleaning models which burn off any caked on food residue to be easily wiped out. Each pyrolytic cycle will cost around £1 to run so on average cheaper than an oven cleaner or professional service.