This is how much you could save by cooking your dinner in a microwave rather than a cooker
Price comparison website uSwitch says that the cost of cooking accounts for about 4 per cent of the average gas and electricity bill
THE modern kitchen has countless devices for turning ingredients into a meal, but the ones we choose to use and how we use them might have a significant impact on our energy bills.
Price comparison website uSwitch found that the cost of cooking accounts for about 4 per cent of the average gas and electricity bill, meaning that switching to energy-efficient cooking appliances could be a huge money saver - but which ones are best?
Unsurprisingly, Jennipher Marshall-Jenkinson, the president of the Microwave Association, said microwaves are the most cost-cutting appliances.
She claimed that using a microwave instead of a hob could cut a household’s energy bills by up to £5 a month, or as much as £60 a year.
But is this really accurate? We asked some independent energy experts for their opinions.
While Ms Marshall-Jenkinson’s £5 saving claim can’t be verified as energy usage varies considerably depending on which appliances you use and what food you’re cooking, most experts agree a microwave will cut your bills by a modest sum.
According to Energy Saving Trust, five minutes' usage of a typical microwave (800W, category E) will use about 0.09kWh of electricity, costing around 1.3p.
In comparison the typical gas consumption each time a gas hob is used is about 0.9kWh, costing around 3.4p.
Sun Savers reveal five ways to bring your energy bills down this summer
CLAIRE Osborne, an energy expert at price comparison website uSwitch, told that a few simple changes around our homes will help us bring the temperature and our energy bills down to a much cooler level:
- Switch your home to “summer mode”. Over the winter most people have things like their central heating, hot water, lights to come on automatically — which means we can forget to re-programme them in the summer when we don’t need them as much. Check that you’ve completely switched off the central heating and electric heaters and change the timer settings for things like electric lights or on the boiler for your hot water.
- Check the weather forecast. If it’s going to be a hot sunny day but you’re not going to be at home, leave the curtains drawn or the blinds down — it prevents the room heating up so much and means you don’t have to use as much electricity to power fans or air conditioning.
- Turn the pressure down on the power shower. A high-pressure power shower is a great luxury to have but you’d be surprised how much water they use – sometimes even more than a bath.
- Shrink your bills, not your clothes. Some 90 per cent of a washing machine’s energy expenditure is spent on heating the water, so if you wash your clothes at 30-40°C you’ll save significant amounts of money. And make sure you air-dry your clothes rather than in the tumbler dryer, especially at this time of year.
- Turn your phone charger off. We waste nearly £29m per year in this country by leaving the phone charger switched on even though we’re not charging our phones. It’s an easy one to save on straight away.
“These figures aren’t directly comparable, since the 'typical use' of a gas hob isn’t necessarily equivalent to five minutes’ microwave use, but it does provide a basic comparison,” Energy Saving Trust said.
A microwave is the most energy-efficient appliance, followed by a hob and lastly an oven, says uSwitch.
“To keep your energy bills down, it's a good idea to purchase a microwave if you don't already have one, and to use it for as much cooking as possible,” uSwitch experts said.
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They added: “Slow cookers can also be an energy-efficient option - they use just a little more energy than a traditional light bulb, and you can leave your food to cook slowly while you get on with other things.”
The website Treehugger.com suggests other ways you can improve the energy efficiency in your kitchen while cooking, including keeping the stove and microwave clean as microwaves work more efficiently when there are no food particles inside.
They also advised people to use the appropriate size pan for the meal they are cooking with as smaller pans are cheaper and more energy-efficient to heat up.
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