TOGETHER WE CAN SAVE               

Make even older appliances more energy efficient

Southern Pine believes that by working together, we can save energy and money.

Even older appliances can be more efficient if you take a few moments and really think about things.

Whether you have the newest, most efficient electric appliances or you’re hanging onto some that practically qualify as antiques, you can use them smarter so they waste less energy.

Here are some free and easy ways to cut waste—and your energy bill:

• Move your refrigerator away from the stove, dishwasher and heating vents. The heat from those devices makes the refrigerator work harder to stay cold, so it runs less efficiently.
• If your refrigerator’s coils are exposed, vacuum them every three months. When dirt builds up on the coils, the appliance has to use more energy to keep your food cold.
• Repair the gaskets on your refrigerator’s door if they come loose. Damaged gaskets allow warm air into your refrigerator.
• If your old freezer doesn’t self-defrost, do it yourself—as soon as a quarter-inch of ice builds up. An ice-laden freezer is inefficient.
• Stop rinsing dishes by hand before you load them into the dishwasher, especially if yours has a pre-rinse or rinse/hold cycle. Simply scrape leftover food from the plates and let the dishwasher do the rest.
• Set your dishwasher to its “energy-saver” feature and leave it there so it saves energy every time you use it.
• Match the size of your pots and pans to the size of the stovetop burner you’re using. Placing a small pot on a large burner wastes a lot of heat.
• Cover pots and pans with lids so you can cook at a lower burner setting.
• Fit the size setting on your washer to the size load you are actually washing. For example: select the “small load” setting on your washing machine when you don’t have enough laundry to fill the tub. At that setting, the washer will fill with less water. You save water, washing detergent and electricity all at once.
• Clean your clothes dryer filters after each load. By cleaning the appliance regularly it not only keeps the appliance from overheating and working too hard, it can also help prevent a fire.