While an efficient heating system can lead to significant savings, your choice of appliances alone can do much the same. Since major home appliances contribute to a large chunk of your monthly utility bill, more efficient models can be an important investment for your household.
How Have Appliances Improved?
Newer appliances are much more efficient due to tightened minimum federal standards and an increasing appreciation for our environment. The less energy we use in our homes, the less pollution, and greater savings on utility bills.
- New fridges consume much less energy, though those with freezers on top use 10 to 15 percent less.
- In the last two decades, top-loading washers have doubled in energy efficiency by reducing water use, and front-loading models use even less.
- Dishwashers now use less hot water and have more efficient motors.
- Air conditioners have been improved with higher efficiency equipment.
When choosing appliances, use the yellow EnergyGuide label on the appliance or packaging to find annual energy consumption and operating costs. Also, make sure to get the right size for your home, as over-sized models will waste energy and smaller ones will not perform as well.
Energy Star
Products certified by the federal Energy Star program fulfill or exceed minimum standards, saving energy and money while minimizing pollution. Replacing an older model with an Energy Star-certified appliance can save a great deal, especially for major appliances. Although they may cost more initially, they will save more over their lifetimes, which are generally longer, between 10 and 20 years.
Calculate Appliance Savings
Various calculators are available online for estimating of annual dollar and energy savings for energy efficient appliances, including the Energy Star program calculator. You can also estimate consumption and operating costs versus potential savings by comparing qualified to standard models, given regional gas, water and electricity rates.
To calculate appliance savings and for other expert advice, from tips for saving energy to general home comfort needs, contact us at Around the Clock A/C & Heating. We have been serving the Los Angeles area for more than 45 years, and we look forward to serving you today.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Los Angeles, North Hollywood and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about savings and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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