CONSERVING WITH COOKING
| FIRST WE SAVE, THEN WE PAY |
THE HOME IS THE FASTEST AND BEST PLACE TO CONSERVE IN YOUR DAILY LIFE, KEEP YOUR HOUSE BRIGHT BUT ULTIMATELY LITE... SAVINGS Cooking with Gas vs. Electric: Cooking with gas is always more efficient and less expensive, that is as long as natural gas prices go down. With gas prices on the rise, natural gas is soon to follow. This mainly follows because of transportation and taxes placed on this fuel. Cooking with gas in an oven is always more efficient for the cooker contains the burner. The electric needs to heat to an excessive heat and then wastes that energy when cooling down, when turned off. Gas stoves, the gas turns off immediately after you turn it off. Microwave Oven vs. Conventional Oven: A microwave oven uses 70% – 80% less electricity than a conventional oven. In addition, the microwave cooks food much faster. Use pots and pans that are the right size as the burner: When you place a pot on top of the burn that is the same size as the pot or pan you only need to use energy to heat up the pot and not the air around it for those that are too small and the burner doesn’t have to use more energy to heat up a pot if it is over sized. Also using a pot that does not cover the burner can be a safety hazard. Always use cookware that has flat bottoms. Always use lids with your pots and pans: Always use lids with any pots and pans you cook with on a cook top. That steam or heat that goes into the air is completely wasted steam. If you cover the pot or pan, you can cook twice as fast and twice as hot. Always use lids that have a tight seal around them. No Peeking in on Conventional Ovens: Try to avoid opening the door to the oven as much as possible, every time the door is open the heat is lost and so is its efficiency. Even a small amount of time that the door is open means a sizeable amount of time the oven needs to heat back up. Each peek can lose your heat up to 25 degrees, which the oven will have to work to reproduce. Use the glass to see the progress of the food in the oven. Also use a toaster oven to cook any items that will fit, these have less area to heat up. To preheat or not to pre-heat the oven: Though most recipes recommend it, if you are cooking items over an hour, there is no need to pre-heat, you can stick you food into the oven and then turn it on. Glass vs. Metal Pans: Use glass pans whenever available. Metal pans seem nice to use sometimes and are sometimes recommended but when you use a glass pan you can set the oven at 25 degrees lower since the glass will retain the heat set by the oven. Menu Preparation can save time and energy: When you are planning your meals, choose foods that can be cooked in a conventional oven at the same temperature. This way you can cook them at the same time and you can save time and energy. Stews and stir-frys are good menu items: Choose single-dish menus that will allow you to cook only one item and not many different items. Stir-Fry, Stews, and other single dish dinners are great. Cook with high heat and lower after it boils: When you cook something in a pot, cook at a high temperature first, with a lid on. When the water boils, lower the temperature of the water and allow it to boil and cook with the retained heat. Cleaning your oven: Only use the oven self-cleaning when it’s a major job. Otherwise clean it by hand. The self-cleaning cycle use a tremendous amount of electricity to clean and is not necessary most of the time.ENERGY STAR and High Efficiency: When looking for a new fridge, oven, microwave, dishwasher, washing machine, or dryer. Always look for a high efficient appliance. Compare the energy stickers to know which appliance is more efficient compared to size not options. Options are nice but the more options you have, the more energy you use, unless that option is ENERGY STAR. This new type of classification will be displayed on a yellow tag and will compare this unit to others its size and options. Look for the appliance with the least amount of electricity used per year. |
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CONSERVATION IN YOUR OWN NEIGHBORHOOD
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