Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Tips on Saving Electricity


Finally the summer heat has struck! It is time for us to use Electricity judiciously to meet energy requirement of one and all.

During the months of May and June, schools and colleges have vacations. The kids are at home and their moms are busy baking cakes and other baked items for their kids. I take this opportunity to introduce you to some simple ways to optimize energy consumption while using an electric oven.

Tips while using Electric Oven:

· Prefer the use of Microwave ovens over conventional ovens, because they are 33 to 66% more efficient than convection or conventional ovens.
· Turn ON the oven only when you are done with the preparation and are ready to keep the dish in the oven.
· If the food is frozen, it will take much time and energy to get heated up. So, defrost the frozen food before keeping into the oven.
· Minimize pre-heat time as per the requirement of food to be cooked and avoid energy wastage. The recipes having a longer cooking time generally do not require pre-heating.
· Keep the oven racks clear and stagger the food on tray to allow good circulation of hot air.
· Try to cook with a full oven. The energy required to cook multiple dishes together is less than cooking one dish at a time repeatedly.
· If there are multiple loadings, keep the trays ready to minimize change time.
· Do not open the door of the oven to check if the food is done. Every time you open the oven door, the oven temperature is lowered by around 25 to 75o F.
· Select ovens with a window that allows you to check the food without opening the door.
· Timers too can be used effectively to optimize the electricity consumption.
· Use of glass or ceramic pans reduces the energy requirement. The food gets cooked quickly with these pans as compared to conventional utensils.
· Turn OFF the oven a little before the food is ready. This completely utilizes the heat available inside.
· Use leftover heat in the oven to keep the food warm. Ovens retain heat for up to 30 minutes after they have been turned off.
· Inspect the seal around the oven. If it is damaged or perished replace it.
· Turn off the appliance from the plug point switch as a safety precaution and to avoid any 'stand by power' loss.

Use electricity responsibly and save energy so as to be environmentally friendly as well as economically friendly!

Author - HirenB. I am a technical/content writer and I've written many more articles regarding various topics such as health related issues, relationships, Internet marketing, gemstones, etc.