Cooking Stoves and Ovens
LPG is the number one choice for cooking as it can be put on and off instantly distributes heat evenly and is economical. Gas burners are often preferred because gas offers a greater level of control in the speed of cooking.
Some tips on energy saving for gas-based/electric cooking ranges or ovens are given below.
1. Do not preheat the oven unless the recipe specifically requires it.
2. Do not open the oven door while food is cooking.
3. You can lose up to 50 degrees in temperature and waste energy.
4. Cook by time-and-temperature guides.
5. Be sure all burners are off when not in use.
6. Cook several meals at the same time.
7. If you have two ovens, use the smaller one whenever you can.
8. Never use the gas range for room heating! It is very unsafe.
In addition, measures such as turning lights off when you leave a room, switching off your television, video, DVD, etc. at the end of the day instead of leaving them on in standby mode would save energy and money. And next time you make a cup of tea, do not fill up the pan or the electric kettle - just boil the water you need! You could think of many more ways of saving energy!
We summarise some other measures below:
a.) Turn down your water heater thermostat. Thermostats are often set to 55° C when 45° C is usually fine. Each 10° C reduction saves substantial amounts of CO2 per year for an electric water heater.
b.) Buy the product that is sized to your typical needs - not the biggest one available. Be careful not to overheat or overcool rooms. Lowering your thermostat just 2° C during winter saves 6% of heating related CO2 emissions.
c.) Wrap your water heater in an insulating jacket.
d.) Use less hot water by installing low-flow shower heads.
e.) Whenever possible, walk, bike, use car pool or mass transit.
f.) When you next buy a car, choose one that gets good mileage.
g.) Reduce the amount of waste you produce through buying minimally packaged goods, selecting re-useable products over disposable ones, and recycling.
Cutting down your garbage through half of one large trash bag per week saves a lot of CO2 per year. Making products along with recycled materials, instead of from scratch within raw materials, uses 30 to 55% less for paper products, 33% less for glass, and a whopping 90% less for aluminium.
a.) If your car has an air conditioner, confirm its coolant is recovered and recycled while you have it serviced. Leakage from auto ACs is the large single source of emissions of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) that damage the ozone layer as well as add to global warming.
b.) Work along with your employer to implement energy-efficient and waste-reduction measures within your office or workplace. Join or Form local citizens' groups and work along with local government officials to see that these measures are taken in schools and public buildings.
At last, we would like to put in a word of caution!