Think Green

Global warming and climate change presents an uncertain future and various challenges in determining how we approach and go about our daily living. More then ever, we are faced with decisions that will play a part in reducing carbon emissions and thus climate change. The future of our children and environment depend on it. 

At Think Appliances, we are focussed on this important issue and as a result have put together some interesting information regarding home appliances and their usage. Our key objective is to share some insights and offer you years of combined industry experience when it comes to the selection and operation of kitchen appliances. We hope you find this information useful and thank you for your interest in our Think Green page. By reading this we understand that you take the matter of climate change seriously like we do and look forward to a cleaner and greener environment.

Ovens and freestanding cookers
Cooktops
Rangehoods and canopies
Dishwashers

Ovens and Freestanding Cookers

Green Tip 1 – Unlike many appliances, inbuilt ovens and freestanding cookers are not required to be tested for their energy consumption in Australia at the moment. However in Europe they are and the European Standard uses a Class rating system as apposed to our star rating.

The Class ratings start from A, the best, through to E, the least efficient. This rating system is not limited to energy consumptions and on some appliances may rate performance.

Some brands of ovens and freestanding cookers are starting to promote their European energy rating, since the same product is sold there. Think Appliances proudly presents a range of A Class rated inbuilt ovens and freestanding cookers. That means these ovens and cookers operate more efficiently, maintain more heat inside through their superior design and manufacturing process.

Take a look at our Baumatic and Lofra ranges for specific models that receive the A Class European energy rating.

Green Tip 2 – Ovens and freestanding cookers have improved over the years as expected with the manufacturing industry and research, development and technology brings advancements in performance. When operating your appliance, these latest models are fitted with powerful elements, fans and burners (gas models) that can be operated at lower temperatures then previous models.

Operate ideally between 165 and 180 degrees celsius for fan assisted cooking functions and 180 to 200 degrees celsius for static (no fan) assisted cooking functions.
See our Think Cooking page for more details. These lower temperatures in modern ovens will deliver better cooking results and save energy.

Green Tip 3 – Look for the number of glass panels fitted into the appliance door when searching for a new oven or freestanding cooker. It is standard to see dual glazed doors; however triple glazed or even quad glazed is preferable. Apart from being more safe for your family to be around whilst the appliance is operating, more heat will be retained inside, which will eliminate the oven needing to turn on more when the thermostat reads the heat loss inside, thus saving energy.

See the Baumatic and Lofra range of appliances for triple glazed door models.

Green Tip 4 – When selecting a new oven or freestanding cooker you might like to consider a dual cavity model that has two cooking areas. These models generally have a large area and a smaller area. Appliance advancements have made these separate small areas not just a place to grill but a separate cooking and baking area as well. When there is less people to cook for use the smaller cavity area so the oven heats up and cooks your meal quicker. That way you can use less energy.

Various Think Appliance models have dual cavity ovens or freestanding cookers.

Green Tip 5 – When the thermostat inside an oven and freestanding cooker operates it is doing so because it maintains the heat level selected on the temperature setting and thus the oven’s heat level inside has dropped.

A fully sealed oven, with full door seal and no specific venting inside the appliance cavity reduces heat fluctuations and thus also assists in maintaining a stable level of heat inside an oven.

The majority of inbuilt oven and freestanding cooking brands brought to you by Think Appliances are fully sealed ovens.

Cooktops

Green Tip 1 – Ideally when using a cooktop you want total control to access the most power when needed, through to the finest simmer for those delicate sauces and simmering your favourite homemade pasta sauce or soup for hours.

Look out for dual controlled wok burners now available on the market that gives you total control and flexibility. Both Highland and Baumatic gas cooktops feature dual controlled wok burners. Think Appliance manufactures Highland gas and electric cooktops here in Australia.

Highland features the most powerful, efficient and precise burner system on the market today. A massive 22mj of wok power down to the finest .5mj of simmer power gives you the most efficient burner system you can buy today.

Compare the output of a Highland gas burner to a traditional gas burner on the market with the same output and you will notice the Highland burner is noticeably a lot smaller in size. How does Highland cooktops achieve this? Through a superior designed and engineered German burner system and special External Primary Air System (EPAS) that delivers an oxygen enriched, more powerful flame for the same gas consumption. The end result is more power for less energy.

Green Tip 2 – With electric cooktops there are a number of technological advancements that have been made over recent years. Traditionally slow, electrical cooktops now have been improved with the introduction of ceran or ceramic electric cooktop models that have entered the market. They have improved features and element systems for better responsiveness. Thus heat up and heat reduction times have improved meaning less energy consumed.

Some of the other great features in the new ceran cooktops are a countdown timer. So you don’t over use the cooktop simply set the timer up to 99 minutes and it will count down and turn off the cooking zone so you don’t have to attend the cooktop all the time and importantly save energy.  The Baumatic range of ceran cooktops feature countdown timers.

Green Tip 3 – For the ultimate energy efficient electrical cooktop, consider an induction cooktop. Although more expensive to purchase, induction cooktops are an impressive 90% efficient, when compared to standard electric cooktops at 60% and gas at 50%.

Induction cooktops will give you the ultimate control and are highly responsive. You can boil through to the finest simmer in literally seconds.

See the Baumatic range of appliances for an induction cooktop model – BA24.3

Rangehoods and Canopies

Green Tip 1 – In terms of efficiency with rangehoods, there is not a lot of discussion about the energy consumption that the motor uses, as most of them use a similar amount of power. However the discussion needs to be more about the efficiency of the rangehood, ensuring it doesn’t have to work harder, on higher fan speeds, thus consuming more power and importantly we will speak about the inefficiencies of doing so in relation to your home cooling and heating costs.

Most rangehoods and canopies operate well when they are first installed. Over time these appliances are known to reduce in efficiency due to filters clogging up with grease and in worse cases recirculated hoods not having their carbon filters replaced, which allows clean air to enter back into the kitchen. Clean your grease filters regularly in hot soapy water or most filters now days can be put into the dishwasher. Use a pot or heavy wash, doing so reduces the strain on the rangehood.

Green Tip 2 – We strongly advise to duct your rangehood to atmosphere for the most efficient operation. At the time it may sound great to save a little money on installation costs, yet in most cases down the track we find customers regret not ducting the hood. They forget to replace the carbon filter for recirculation of the hood and then the performance in time all goes down hill from there. A ducting specialist company can advise you about the different types of ducting available and what adding extra lengths and bends will do in terms of efficiency of your rangehood.

Green Tip 3 – Some rangehoods on the market over cater for homes with exorbitant ratings on the motor. If you get a chance to, stand in front of an outlet where the air is transferring through from a hood with a maximum 800 cubic metres per hour capacity. It is very sufficient. In fact the 800 cubic metre maximum rating would only need to be used as a boost for the odd times requiring this amount of power because most of the time the second or third speed producing 400 to 600 cubic metres of air per hour is ample.

We highly recommend before you commit to a rangehood, feel the air passing through the hood at the other side where it is expelled out. There wouldn’t be a home that would want more then this amount of air being sucked into their rangehood, especially when considering heating and cooling costs.

Higher rated hoods might do a greater job of clearing the kitchen fumes, although we believe the previously mentioned rated hoods still do, a consumer then looses the efficiency of the conditioning of their home thus increasing energy bills.

Since this article has been written to aid consumers in being green when it comes to appliances, we believe their needs to be a balance between removing the odours from a kitchen effectively without the overkill that creates inefficiencies to the conditioning of your home.

Dishwashers

Green Tip 1 – Dishwashers are a little more consumer friendly when it comes to choosing an efficient appliance not only for energy consumption but also water consumption. This is because dishwashers, as with many other appliances such as fridges and air conditioners, are regulated by an Australian Standard to show consumers a typical energy and water consumption. It enables you to also compare from one brand to another to locate the most suitable efficient appliance.

The test is conducted on a normal wash cycle and should be used as a guide. You would need to assume that you would use the dishwasher in this exact way, day after day and all year to use the same energy and water shown on the Australian Standard rating labels. Importantly though it will give you a good idea as to the efficiency between different models.

Green Tip 2 – There is more considerations though then to look at the standards label ratings when speaking about being green with dishwashers. Look out for a quick wash cycle when making your selection. Most of the time dishwashers these days are very efficient at washing lightly soiled dishes and if your dishwasher has a quick wash, it will not only use the least amount of water and energy but also save you time.

Think about this, even though you may select a dishwasher with a great energy and water rating on normal wash (remember this is what cycle the Australian Standard tests the dishwashers on), it may be a model without a quick wash, normally around 30mins long. Therefore I encourage you to consider more then just the label on the front of the machine, because there is more to saving water and energy then simply looking at the Australian Standards test results.

Think Appliances dishwashers have a rapid wash on several brands ranging between 28 & 30mins, averaging a low 10 litres of water usage only.

Green Tip 3 – Another energy and water saving feature on dishwashers is the half load option. If you have only half the load to wash, then there is no need to worry about turning on the dishwasher (although it would still probably be using less water then hand washing and rinsing in the average size sink).

The half load option in some dishwashers allows you to select either top or bottom basket and some models have a preselected basket the dishwasher allocates.

When using the half load feature the dishwasher on average reduces both water and energy consumption by around 15%. That will make a great difference to our environment and contribution to reducing carbon emissions.

Several of Think Appliances models have the half load wash option.

Green Tip 4 – A great feature now available on some dishwashers is an auto sensing water quality feature that smartly detects the quality of the water and only refills if needed. That way the dishwasher is not changing over clean water and refilling unnecessarily and saving even more water.

Stay tuned for new future models that will have this feature by Baumatic Appliances.

We trust that this information is useful to you and goes a small way in aiding our customers and the general community in the quest to reduce carbon emissions and help save our environment. Think Appliances are focussed on ensuring our product range offers our customers choices in being able to minimise resource usage and an education in to the world of kitchen appliances through tips and hints. We will constantly update this section with new ideas and innovations as they come about.

Thank you for taking the time out to read Think Green and having an interest in saving our environment.