Appliances: Your Ticket to Energy Savings

Home appliances save time, make our homes more comfortable, and increase our quality of life. However, there is more to choosing an appliance than simply selecting the finish, features and price. 

ENERGY STAR certified appliances use less energy than other non-certified brands. Is the savings worth the extra cost? Yes. In most cases, you’ll save enough on electricity and water bills to “pay back’ the extra upfront cost in just a few months.

Home appliances save time, make our homes more comfortable, and increase our quality of life. However, there is more to choosing an appliance than simply selecting the finish, features and price.

Finding a washer, dryer or refrigerator that gets the job done while using less energy and water has become much easier, thanks to programs such as ENERGY STAR and the EnergyGuide label. These labels help you select an appliance that performs well, yet conserves natural resources.

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Refrigerators: The Big Energy Hogs

Of all the appliances in the home, the refrigerator can be the most wasteful of electricity. Unlike other appliances that you can turn off, the refrigerator is always on. Fortunately, modern refrigerators are more than 75 percent more energy efficient than those built just 15 years ago.

Upgrading your 1970s-era fridge to a modern Energy Star option can save you over $200 annually in energy bills. Rebates from local utility companies, manufacturers, federal, state and local governments are often available. Visit the Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency to see what’s available in your area.

Besides saving energy, some manufacturers are producing refrigerators that simply do a better job of storing food. Smart refrigerators are able to moderate the humidity of different bins within the unit, which reduces food spoilage and waste.

Fruits and vegetables, for instance, require higher levels of humidity and a constant circulation of air to retain their freshness, color, flavor and vitamins. Meats, on the other hand, should be kept in drier, more air-tight compartments. While this technology can help you preserve your food, it does come at a higher price.

What to Know

• If you have a refrigerator that’s more than 15 years old, replace it!
• ENERGY STAR–rated refrigerators can save you hundreds of dollars over the life of the appliance.
• Size matters: One big refrigerator in the kitchen is better than two small ones (i.e., one in the kitchen, one in the garage).

Samsung Bespoke French Door Refrigerator This four-door smart refrigerator allows you to order customized door colors, and is ENERGY STAR rated to operate on just $82 worth of energy per year. It includes water filter and beverage center, and offers a whopping 29 cubic feet of storage.

Dishwashers: Quiet and Efficient

Energy savings and water savings are closely linked; the more hot water you use in your appliances, the higher your energy bills.

Dishwashers produced before 1994 typically use 10 gallons per load more water than modern units. Considering that the average home washes over 300 loads per year, reducing the amount of water used can quickly lower utility bills. Dishwashers that offer cycle selections and energy-saving options can help reduce the amount of water you use.

To dissolve detergent and remove grease, dishwashers require extremely hot water. Many dishwashers now come with a “booster” or internal heating element that raises the incoming water temperature to the required 140 degrees.

This enables you to lower the temperature on your water heater and still allow your dishwasher to operate at optimum levels. Some dishwashers offer the booster cycle, but only if you select “heavy duty.”

Along with energy and water savings, noise is a factor in choosing a dishwasher. Measured in decibels (dB), the amount of sound produced can vary dramatically by make and model.

Normal conversation levels range around 60 dB, so choosing a unit that is quieter than that is important. Because of advances in insulation and soundproofing, some dishwashers can be “whisper quiet,” creating as little as 41 dB during operation. That is just slightly louder than the hum of your refrigerator.

What to Know

• Dishwashers have two EnergyGuide cost labels: one for consumers who use electric water heaters and one for natural gas users.
• Boost heaters generally increase the cost of the unit, but the energy savings can pay for the upgrade in about one year.
• Dishwashers fall into two categories—compact and standard.

Ranges and Ovens: Smart Cooking Saves Energy

Refrigerators, dishwashers and laundry units may be considered “major” appliances, but they aren’t the only units you may have to purchase or replace. Thoughtful selection of ranges, ovens, cooktops, microwaves and range hoods can help reduce energy use while improving the quality of life around your home.

Ranges. The kitchen range is a dual oven/cooktop, and is available in electric, natural gas and dual fuel. The benefit of a dual-fuel range is that it has the benefits of gas burners on the cooktop, but offers the stable temperatures of oven cooking with electricity. Times have changed, however, and we now know a lot more about the negative impacts of cooking with gas.

Not only is gas a fossil fuel that’s hard to extract and responsible for a lot of methane release during extraction, it also leaves dangerous toxins in your home, even when you use a range hood.

Fortunately, cooktops are now available that use a technology called electrical induction, which creates a magnetic field that heats pans directly, unlike traditional electric resistance coils, which use conduction to transfer heat.

The advantages of induction are threefold: First, it’s good to cook with. Many chefs now prefer it over gas, because it offers precise control over temperatures and super-rapid heating when you need it.

Second, you can power induction with renewable energy, rather than fossil fuels. That means you could actually cook with energy created by solar panels or wind.

Third, you can cook with cast iron on induction tops. For those of us who don’t like using pans coated with dangerous PFAs, that’s a big plus.

Microwaves. Often an afterthought when finishing a kitchen, microwaves can create a more energy-efficient and comfortable kitchen when used properly. Energy consumption can be reduced by up to 80 percent when smaller portions are heated up in the microwave instead of the oven. Also, using a microwave instead of the oven will reduce the amount of heat generated in the kitchen.

What to Know about Ovens and Cooktops

• Induction ranges are more energy efficient than traditional ranges, but can only be used with ferrous (steel or iron) cookware.
• Flat cooktops are not necessarily induction ranges.
• Most flat-surfaced cooktops simply use electric resistance heaters under a ceramic cover.
• There is no ENERGY STAR label for residential ovens, ranges or microwave ovens at this time. 

Signature Kitchen Suite Induction Cooktop This 36-inch electric induction cooktop is designed for serious chefs. Each burner offers up to 3,700 watts of power, and the unit can be flush mounted into your countertop. Energy saving and powerful, it’s the cooktop tech of the future, available now.

Range Hoods. These are more important than ever in the kitchen for several reasons. First, the ventilation removes unwanted moisture, which could lead to mold issues in the home.

A range hood also exhausts heat, smoke and cooking odors from the home. A quality hood also offers task lighting above the range, which will increase safety around hot burners. However, very few people use range hoods on a regular basis.

It’s our hope with the new research emerging about just how bad cooking fumes are for your health, more people will get serious about range hood use.

When buying a range hood, look for the quietest model you can find. In general, products that use a centrifugal fan are quieter than  their counterparts with standard exhaust fans.

Induction cooktops offer a more-than-equitable replacement for gas tops. This 30-inch induction cooktop from Whirlpool includes several cooking modes, including fast boil, allowing it to heat water much faster than a conventional electric top. Surfaces also cool quickly, making for easy cleanup. This product was awarded one of Green Builder magazine’s “Decarbonization Dozen” Sustainability Awards in 2022. 

Washers and Dryers: Advances in Conservation

The average American family does more than 400 loads of laundry a year. Fortunately, reducing the water used for laundry has gotten easier in the past decade, thanks in large part to the advancement (and acceptance) of front-loading washing machines.

While top-loading machines still have their place in the market, front-loading units use up to one-third less water, reduce wear on clothes and require less detergent. By using gravity to move the clothes inside the drum instead of a spindle, front-loading washers also conserve electricity, while providing more effective spin cycles.

Two terms to be familiar with when evaluating washing machines are modified energy factor (MEF) and water factor (WF). The higher the MEF, the more energy efficient the model. This rating takes into account not only the energy used during the course of cleaning the clothes, but also the energy used to heat the water and run the dryer. The WF rates the water efficiency of the unit based on its size. The lower the WF, the more water efficient the washer.

Using the MEF and WF, along with an ENERGY STAR label and the EnergyGuide label can help you determine which washer set will conserve resources, yet still perform well.

What to Know

• Dryers with moisture sensors can greatly reduce energy use.
• Most HE (high efficiency) washers use special low-sudsing detergent. 
• ENERGY STAR specifications for clothes dryers took effect on January 1st of this year. 

Save Big with Heat Pump Clothes Dryers

Clothes dryers are responsible for 6 percent of a home’s total energy usage, according to the Consumer Energy Center. This is partly because they use temperature-controlled air from inside a home, and then pump it out. In the winter, a home furnace must make up for the warm air lost. In the summer, air cooled by an air conditioner is used and re-heated in the dryer.

A relatively new technology, Heat Pump Clothes Dryers (HPCD) or “condensation” dryers work on a loop system. Air is drawn into the loop, goes through the dryer system and then is reused, instead of being pumped outside.

HPCDs such as this model from Whirlpool, are ideal for places where venting to the outdoors is difficult, or dry climates where you want to add humidity to indoor air. Research shows that if you pair one with a high efficiency clothes washer (which wrings clothes especially dry), you can save about 35% of the energy used washing and drying clothes.

How Do Condensation Dryers Work?

1. Ambient (cool) air enters the dryer.
2. Ambient air enters heat exchanger and is heated.
3. Ambient air (warm and dry) exits heat exchanger. 
4. Processed (heated) air enters drum to absorb moisture and dry load.
5. Processed air (wet) enters heat exchangers, and is cooled, releasing  moisture.
6. Processed air (dry) exits heat exchanger.
7. Processed air enters heater and is heated up. 
8. Water is collected and pumped into the drain. 

Publisher’s Note: This content is made possible by our Today’s Homeowner Campaign Sponsors: Whirlpool, Carrier and Jinko Solar. These companies take sustainability seriously, in both their products and their operations. Learn more about building and buying homes that are more affordable and less resource intensive.