If you’re thinking of making your home energy-efficient, there’s no better place to start than in the kitchen. This is because a lot goes on there, and there are plenty of accessories that can be switched up for their energy-saving counterparts. Let’s see some of the energy-efficient kitchen upgrades you can make for a more sustainable home in general.
Declutter and Organize
The very first thing you need to do is to declutter your kitchen and organize it. This can help you work more efficiently in the kitchen, and it will also help you get rid of appliances and accessories you don’t use. These can either be sold or donated if they’re still usable, or get recycled so they don’t add waste to the landfills. In the last year, kitchen remodeling has gone up by 23%, and this is a potential increase in the waste that gets generated during remodels of any kind. Make a difference by minimizing the waste you generate and you will also benefit from getting a good space in which to work effectively.
Get Covers for Your Pots
If you don’t already have covers for your pots and pans, you should consider getting some during your kitchen upgrade. This is important because it will help you conserve energy whenever you’re cooking and boiling different recipes. A covered pot will reach higher temperatures more easily and maintain them for a longer time, making your cooking a lot more efficient.
Upgrade the Countertops
With many houses in the United States in need of improvement and remodeling, because about 80% of them are a minimum of 20 years old, it’s important to make each remodel count. Materials that were used for things like the countertops have changed a lot in this time, and so if your kitchen still sports the original finishes it came with more than a decade ago, it’s important to upgrade them. Newer countertops will not only be a lot easier to clean and improve your home’s value, they will also enable you to work more efficiently in the kitchen, for instance, if you get cooktops fitted onto them.
Switch to Energy-Saving LED Bulbs
The kitchen is a space in your home that rarely goes to sleep, as we all know very well, so it’s good to ensure that when keeping it well-lit, you do so in an energy-efficient way. Get LED light bulbs for your kitchen as well as the rest of the house, and you will realize more savings in the future. This is such an easy upgrade to do that you can get it done the next time you go shopping as it’s just a matter of buying energy-efficient bulbs and fitting them.
Get Modern Appliances
Finally, as mentioned, the kitchen is one of the rooms in any house that has the largest number of appliances in it. This means that you stand to make impressive improvements when you upgrade the appliances you use in your house. Sell or donate any aged appliances and replace them with appliances that have a good energy-star rating, and you will enjoy preparing meals and snacks in a green way. Such energy-efficiency measures are part of the reason why energy use in the United States is the same today as it was in the year 2000, in spite of the economy experiencing a 30% growth in that time.
When you make the upgrades outlined above, you will be sure to see a positive difference in the amount of energy you use. Soon enough, you can take these measures and extend them to the rest of your home to make even more energy savings.
