Energy Efficiency

Technology has become an indispensable part of our daily life. It plays a key role in housekeeping: washing machine, vacuum cleaner, refrigerator, microwave oven, electric/gas stove and iron among others. They represent a high percentage of electricity consumption in our households for this reason it is important to look for the energy efficiency label, which will help us to save money and reduce our ecological footprint.

In our country, refrigerator is one of the electrical appliances that have more presence in households and, at the same time, use more electricity. According to a study¹, 96.8% of Chilean households have at least one refrigerator. The average annual consumption of electricity due to the use of refrigerators is 516.3 kWh, which represents 29% of the electricity consumption of a house. 

So, it is important to know which aspects take into consideration when buying an electric appliance. Let’s imagine that you want to replace your 15-year-old refrigerator with a new one. Most refrigerators of fifteen years ago are class D or E which means a consumption of 625 kWh per year. Commonly, the new ones have either A, A+ or A+++ class. For this example, we’ll use the A+ class, which uses 187 kWh. There is a difference of 438 kWh, in other words, 70% of savings in electricity. So, if we consider that each kWh costs CLP 110, we’ll save 20,570 in 1 year!

https://ideaelectrodomesticos.wordpress.com/2012/12/18/cuanto-dinero-ahorra-un-electrodomestico-de-eficiencia-energetica-a-a-a-a/

When buying you should choose a top freezer model because they use between 10% and 25% less energy than side-by-side or bottom-mount models as well as models with icemakers and water dispensers.

As you can see, there are several aspects you should consider when buying an electrical appliance, this is just an example. But, you already know that the energy efficiency label provides a lot of information.

Keep making greener choices!

1: Estudio de usos finales y curva de oferta de la conservación de la energía en el sector residencial

Sources:

http://formularios.minenergia.cl/cpeee/archivos_bajar/informe_meps.pdf

http://energy.gov/energysaver/articles/tips-kitchen-appliances