Let's go for energy efficiency!
Do you know how much electricity each of your household appliances uses? To save money, it’s important to know the energy efficiency of the appliances we use, and how to maintain them so that they can last a long time.
People who have solar PV systems are able to maximize their power consumption by doing electricity-heavy activities (like ironing, washing/drying clothes, and baking) in the daytime – this is when their solar panels are generating the most electricity. With solar, you can use the appliances that use up the most power during the day and they will not increase your electricity bill!
In the meantime, it's also important to increase energy efficiency when we use our appliances (after knowing their wattage and how many kWh they use up every month). Here are a few tips on how to improve the efficiency of your refrigerator:
Make sure to not let the ref or freezer become too cold. For the fresh food compartment, the recommended temperatures are 35°-38°F. For separate freezers, it’s 0 F if the food is being kept longer.
You can determine the temperature of the refrigerator by putting an appliance thermometer in a glass of water, and then out that in the center of the ref. Check it after 24 hours and take note. Do the same process with the freezer by putting the thermometer between the stored food inside. Check after 24 hours.
Always make sure that the door seals of the refrigerator are airtight and secure. Here’s a test: close the door over a piece of paper or a peso bill so half of it is inside the ref, and half is on the outside. Pull-on the paper or bill; if it pulls out easily, the latch is not tightly sealed. Loose door seals will cause your electricity bill to shoot up because so much of the cold generated is lost.
Put covers on the liquids stored in the ref. Wrap all food kept in storage.
When stored liquids and food do not have covers, they release moisture, and this forces the compressor to work harder than it should.
Defrost manual-defrost freezers and refrigerators regularly. Refrigerators lose their energy efficiency when there is too much frost buildup. Make sure to keep frost build-up to stay below one-quarter of an inch.
To compute for each appliance’s estimated kWhr use/month: WATTAGE x # of hours per day x 30 days per month/1,000 = Appliances kWhr Consumption
