Easy Ways to be An Energy Star Around The House

Did you know that the average American household spends about $2,000 on energy bills every year?¹ Now, energy efficient choices around the home can save families approximately one third on their energy bill and provide similar savings in greenhouse gas emissions, without sacrificing features, style or comfort. In fact, updating your home with Frigidaire ENERGY STAR certified appliances and putting energy-efficient technology to work in your home can put money back into your pocket. For example, replacing your old refrigerator can save you $4,260 over the lifetime of the appliance.²

Laura Dellutri, also known as The Healthy Housekeeper™, knows that when you and your family start to make energy-smart choices around the home, the dollar savings grow. As a homemaking expert, author of multiple books on the subject and working mother, Dellutri understands that the little things around the home add up and taking simple steps toward saving energy and water savings goes a long way.

“You may be surprised to learn that using a dishwasher is more energy efficient than washing dishes by hand,” said Dellutri. “You can use nearly 5,000 gallons less water and save nearly 10 days of your time each year when your dishwasher is ENERGY STAR certified.”

Dellutri offers her energy saving tips for saving energy and water throughout the house:

• Keep it Closed: To save time and energy in the kitchen, take out all of your refrigerated ingredients at the same time, if possible, which minimizes the number of times you open your refrigerator door. Every time the door opens, energy consumption by your refrigerator increases by 10 percent.
• No Need to Pre-Rinse: Dishwashers today don’t require pre-rinsing of dishes before loading. In fact, skip this step and you’ll save as much as 20 gallons of water per load, or 6,500 gallons per year. Just scrape off food and liquids - the dishwasher will do the rest.
• Full Loads: Run both your dishwasher and washing machine with full loads to make your appliances more energy efficient. Most of the energy used by a dishwasher goes to heat water. Since you can’t decrease the amount of water used per cycle, fill your dishwasher to get the most from the energy used to run it.
• Moisture Sensor Option: Be sure to use the moisture sensor option on your dryer, if available, which automatically shuts off the machine when your clothes are dry.
• Just the Right Temperature: Set your thermostats at 78 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer and 68 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter. On average, you will use 3 to 5 percent more energy for every degree your thermostat is lower than the recommended summer temperature or higher than the winter temperature.

Visit FrigidaireEnergySavings.com, for more information and appliance-buying tips.

¹ www.ENERGYSTAR.gov

² Based on replacing your current refrigerator purchased before 1980 with a Frigidaire 26’ Cu. Ft. Side-by-Side refrigerator and keeping it for the lifetime of the appliances (15 years).