Top tips for choosing the best energy saving washing machine for your home

It’s not in our nature, but try to look beyond the purchase price – and consider the running costs. Also energy labels on washing machines can be rather confusing, as they now display average electricity consumed in Kilowatts hours (kWh) per year based on 220 cycles, regardless of the capacity of the machine. This means we get the strange situation of the energy label on an ‘A’ rated 6kg machine saying it uses less energy per year, than a more efficient A+++ 12kg machine – which does double the same amount of washing!

Washing Machines ranked by costs

Larger capacity machines can use more electricity per cycle, however, if you regularly have large loads of washing they are far more efficient per unit of electricity consumed – as they save on the number of loads. The most economic and environmentally friendly option for the average family is buy a large drummed machine, as you’ll do far more washing per unit of electricity. Lots of manufacturers are now focusing on larger capacity machines, due to their energy saving credentials. It seems crazy that Energy Labels aren’t reflecting this change and are displaying confusing information.

 

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Washer Dryers ranked by running costs

Ross from Sust-it offers more advice on energy saving at home…

Q: If you had to choose one energy efficient appliance for the home, that would make the most difference, what would it be?

A: That’s a tricky one; tumble dryers have become a necessary evil in many busy households, but are real energy guzzlers, so, if you have to buy one, go for the most efficient model you can afford. Although space saving I’d avoid buying a washer-dryer if possible. Also, it’s worth considering replacing your fridge and freezer if they are over 15 years old – these appliances have greatly improved in efficiency over recent years, plus they are on 24/7. Upgrading a fifteen-year fridge freezer with an average A/A+ rated model could save you £37 per year. Buy a top-performing A+++ model and you could be looking at £67 per year, then multiply that by 15 years! A word of warning though, don’t be tempted to keep the old refrigerator in the garage as a ‘beer’ fridge – it will cost you dear!

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Ross Lammas the founder of Sust-it offers some canny advice on understanding energy labels, and why he started his energy saving website

Q: Why did you start Sust-it?

A: Frustration at the lack of information regarding energy efficiency! I’d been fortunate to self-build an eco house in 2006 – which involved lots of research in into energy-efficient building design and low carbon-intensive materials/techniques.

Before we moved in, we turned our attention to our old electricals, which were in storage. Should we replace our old tube TV and 12-year-old washing machine with modern super-efficient ones? More research began, and, to my surprise, I found a complete lack of understandable information on energy usage and absolutely no information on televisions! Yet I knew, from experience, that Plasma screens were energy hungry! It also surprised me to find such differences between appliances on how much power they used. I thought it would be helpful to show people how much electrical appliances cost to run – both to help them save money and reduce CO2; the Sust-it website was born!

Q: How hard was it to get information from manufacturers in the early days?

A: It’s still a struggle getting good accurate data. Our figures come from manufacturer’s websites, which are a bit like phone chargers, they’re all different! I believe manufacturers should be made to show energy labels on their website, in the same way as they are required to in-store and on advertising.

Q: Every appliance seems to be ‘A’ rated now. Are you pleased with the improvements they have made?

A: Yes & no. It still amazes me that many manufacturers seemed to surpass the highest standards when new labelling regimes were introduced. Shouldn’t higher targets be set? More could be done to encourage consumers to buy energy-efficient appliances – UK consumers are not yet purchasing enough A+ to A+++ appliances; sales in 2011 only accounted for 30%, compared to Germany, where sales within this range were 88%!

Q: How can consumers understand Energy labels? They are now even more confusing. Ratings such as A++++ (-40%) might look good, but what do they mean to consumers?

A: I never understood why the A+++ system was introduced; it just confuses people (and me sometimes!) The EU should have recalibrated the labels when new standards were introduced. The A to G traffic light system worked okay; if you got an F at school you knew you were in trouble, and red means stop!

I’d suggest showing the running costs would be the most significant step forward, as consumers better understand pounds and pence than kilowatts and watts.

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Posted in Advice, Appliances, Energy Labels | Comments Off on Ross Lammas the founder of Sust-it offers some canny advice on understanding energy labels, and why he started his energy saving website

It’s big energy saving week – don’t forget your appliances!

big_energy_saving_week

Citizens Advice Bureau and other community groups are holding energy saving events across the UK. Giving free information and advice on all aspects of saving money and reducing your energy bills. Impartial advice is available from getting the best deal from your existing energy supplier to switching to a new one, to insulating your home.

One of the most forgotten consumers of energy in your home are your appliances and electricals, which account for nearly 40% of your homes energy bill? Incredibly, over 80% of people have no idea of how much electricity their appliances, TV’s or gadgets cost to run. And less know that running an old appliances such fridges / freezers, (they’re running 24/7) could dramatically increase your energy consumption. Having a twenty-year-old chest freezer chugging away in you garage could be costing you over 65% more to run than new model, that’s £41 a year! Might not sound a lot but it all adds up – and imagine that figure multiplied across the UK!

Are you sitting comfortably? Have you got an old Plasma TV in sitting room? Several years ago there was a dash to replace tube TV’s with plasma’s. Unfortunately they were bad news for electricity meters and if you have an early model it could be costing you over a £100 a year in electricity! Compare that to the latest LED television, which will cost you a tenth of that!

It’s not all about buying new stuff though – there is merit in buying appliances that will last a long time, however, simply changing the way you do things can make a real difference to your bills. Here are some simple Sust-it tips for reducing your energy bills for big energy saving week.

Posted in Advice, Utility Switching | Comments Off on It’s big energy saving week – don’t forget your appliances!

Sust-it gives top energy efficient products a GreenPlug!

Spotting the ‘best-in-class’ energy-saving products isn’t that easy with the A+++ rating appearing on so many models, and other efficiency labelling schemes, such as Energy Saving Trust ‘recommended’, only required to meet rather unchallenging criteria. To address this we’ve introduced the ‘Sust-it GreenPlug Awards’. Our awards are only given to products that have topped, or have appeared in, Sust-it’s Top 10 energy efficiency charts. Unlike other energy-labelling schemes, we highlight only the ‘Best-in-class’ products.

How is it awarded?

GreenPlug Awards are given to promote energy efficient products that achieve the highest rankings within Sust-it’s efficiency charts, in any given category. Each product must have reached No. 1 or entered the Top 10 and maintained its position for a minimum of 30 consecutive days.

Would you like to know more about our ‘best-in-class’ energy-labelling scheme? Please follow this link…

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