Appliance and Lighting Tips

• Search for options that have been certified as energy efficient. Look to the EnerGuide label to save energy. EnerGuide is the official Government of Canada mark that tells you how much electricity an appliance consumes in one year and how it compares with similar appliances in terms of electricity consumption. The lower the kilowatt hour rating, the more money you will save through reduced electricity costs.
• Search for appliances with a range of cycles so there is little to no wasted energy. For example, sensors in some dish washers can measure how dirty the dishes are and adjust cycles accordingly, and clothes dryers now have more accurate sensors that cause them to shut off prior to the end of a timed load if the clothes are dry. New front-loading clothes washers clean by tumbling clothes and therefore don’t need agitators or use as much water.

• Check your refrigerator’s door seal by closing the door on a five dollar bill. If the bill is held tightly in place, the door has an adequate seal. If it moves, the door may need to be adjusted or the seal replaced.
• Don’t let frost build up more than six millimeters in your freezer. Defrost regularly for peak efficiency.
• Use microwaves instead of conventional ovens whenever possible; they use about half as much electricity.
• Turn off appliances such as televisions, VCRs, stereo equipment, clock radios and microwaves because they continue to use electricity even in stand-by mode.
• Use dishwashers instead of washing dishes by hand; you typically use the dishwasher once for every three to four times you would hand wash dishes.
• Do not run your dishwasher and clothes washer with less than a full load.
• Wash your clothes in cold or warm water. A whopping 85 to 90 per cent of the energy used by washing machines is for heating the water.
• Clean the dryer’s lint trap after every load. A clogged filter can increase energy use by 30 per cent and can be a fire hazard.
• Turn off any lights that are not needed.
• Use external lights fixed with motion sensors and timers that come on only when needed.
• Replace any lights that must be on all night, such as nightlights in stairways with compact fluorescent light bulbs. Better yet, use a light emitting diode nightlight, which costs less than 20 cents per year to run and requires no bulb changes.
• Various lighting controls can be used to improve lighting energy-efficiency in a home, the most useful of which are dimmers, photocells, occupancy sensors and motion sensors.
• Use tube fluorescent and energy efficient compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) in fixtures throughout your home to provide high-quality and high-efficiency lighting. Fluorescent lamps are much more efficient than incandescent (standard) bulbs and last about four to 10 times longer.
• Consider using four-watt mini-fluorescent or electro-luminescent night lights. Both lights are much more efficient than their incandescent counterparts. The luminescent lights are cool to the touch.
• Consider three-way lamps; they make it easier to keep lighting levels low when brighter light is not necessary.
• Use task lighting; instead of brightly lighting an entire room, focus the light where you need it. For example, use fluorescent under-cabinet lighting for kitchen sinks and countertops under cabinets.
• Place lamps where their light can reflect off at least two walls, such as in a corner.
• Dust light bulbs; the cleaner the bulb the more light shines through.
• Take advantage of daylight by using light-colored, loose-weave curtains on your windows to allow daylight to penetrate the room while preserving privacy. Also, decorate with lighter colors that reflect daylight
• Use outdoor halogen lights for gardens and pathways; they use much less energy than standard incandescent lights.
• Turn off decorative outdoor natural gas lamps; just eight such lamps burning year-round use as much natural gas as it takes to heat an average-size home during an entire winter.