White goods

A household with four persons uses around 6200 kWh for domestic electricity.

All white goods today must have EU markings from the efficiency viewpoint. Markings are made from A, or A++ for fridges and freezers, to G, which is the least energy efficient product. A new fridge/freezer consumes about 270 kWh less electrical energy yearly than an old unit.

Read more about Energy labelling.

Temperature control of fridge and freezer

Electronic temperature control of the fridge/freezer maintains the temperature constant, which reduces the energy demand. Every degree of temperature reduction increases the energy demand by 5 %. Automatic resetting of fast refrigeration/freezing also helps to maintain the right temperature.

Connect the dishwasher to the cold water system

If you connect the dishwasher to the cold water system, the machine will heat the water only for the dishwashing operation and the last rinse. The dishwashing results will be better and you will save energy. A lower dishwashing temperature is often sufficient for ensuring clean dishes.

Heat pump tumble dryer

If you have no facility for drying your clothes in air, energy efficient tumble dryers are available, which have half the energy consumption of an ordinary tumble dryer. The reason is that they have built-in heat pumps that enable the heat to be used twice. The heat pump dehumidifies the air after it has flowed once through the clothes. The water that is removed in the process is drained to a container or directly to drain. The warm side of the heat pump then heats the same air again so that it can absorb the remaining moisture from the clothes. This type of tumble dryer need not be connected to a ventilation duct.