Lower your energy consumption with Youreko and Bosch

Perhaps the biggest collective conversation taking place right now is about how we can all reduce our energy bills.

Our recent partnership with Youreko contributes to that conversation, answering many of the financial challenges, and offering solutions to reduce energy consumption, save money, and operate your household more sustainably.

The Youreko tool empowers you to learn which appliances are the most cost efficient, and how they can maintain low running costs after purchase.

Youreko measures how energy efficient and sustainable an appliance is and presents you with details about the financial benefits of energy savings in clear monetary value. You can use the tool to find your desired appliance (products are uploaded daily from the Bosch website, as well as other manufacturers and retailers), and calculate the lifetime energy cost for all products in the market.

You can learn more about the product here.

As well as sharing the Youreko tool with you, we wanted to provide you with some actionable tips to save more energy on your larger appliances. Large appliances such as fridge freezers, tumble dryers, and washing machines can be big culprits in high energy consumption if not maintained and cared for correctly.

Read on to find out where and how you can save.

An old refrigerator that isn’t operating as efficiently as it once was can be a huge electricity drainer, especially as the fridge freezer is the only appliance in your home that is constantly running and using energy. Upgrading your appliances to a newer, energy efficient model with new electrics can be a great investment in the longer term when it comes to saving on energy bills and operating more sustainably.

If you defrost food regularly from your freezer, make sure you’re doing this in the fridge over a 24-hour period. Having cooler foods in the refrigerator takes the workload of the compressor, meaning the fridge has less work to do to keep the interior cool, and ultimately, saving on energy.

Storing leftovers can be a bit of a minefield which we’ve explained here. But you’ll definitely want to avoid putting warm food into the refrigerator. This can have the opposite effect of our previous point. Ensure your hot leftovers have always been left to cool to room temperature before they enter the refrigerator, and always use refrigerator-safe containers. Glass is a great option since it can contain cold better, stopping moisture from entering the drive which makes it harder to maintain the internal temperature.

It might seem obvious, but keeping up with regular cleaning on the inside of your oven can actually reduce its energy consumption. The usual grease and grime you find on the inside of your oven causes it to take longer to heat up.

Always make sure food is fully defrosted before it enters the oven. The cold temperature of partially defrosted food means the oven has to work harder to warm up, plus, it’s always a much safer option to cook food once it’s fully defrosted.

Rather than popping foods in the oven sporadically, can you batch items together so you get more bang for your buck? For example, two tray bakes can be cooked at the same time on two different shelves, which is far more efficient than cooking them separately. Bosch ovens with 3D Hotair or 4D Hotair features allow you to bake evenly on 3 or 4 levels consecutively, while ensuring there is no mixing between smells and tastes, so you can cook a whole 3 course meal all at the same time. If tray bakes aren’t your thing, try cutting down your foods into smaller pieces (like meats, or potatoes) before cooking them - this will significantly reduce cooking time. If you want an alternative to batch cooking, Bosch ovens also feature an eco setting that can heat up just a layer of the oven at a time, which is more energy efficient

Cooler washes

Turn your washing machine down to 30 degrees for everyday, relatively non-dirty items. Heating the washer is one of the most energy consuming parts of the process, but often fabrics need no more than a quick 30 degree wash to get them fresh, clean, and wearable again. Underwear, sports clothes, and anything particularly dirty will need a warmer wash, so save those until you have a full load

Heat pump dryers reuse the warm air inside the dryer to remove the moisture from your fabrics. This is a great money and energy saving solution for those with high volumes of laundry, especially in the winter. A Bosch heat pump dryer can save up to 68% of energy compared to regular dryers so consider the switch.

_{*Based on comparing our most efficient 8kg Heat Pump dryer WQG233D8GB (A+++ energy rated Heat Pump tumble dryer @ 176kWh) versus our most efficient Condenser 8kg tumble dryer WTN83201GB (B energy rated @561pkWh) Energy consumption kWh/annum, based on 160 drying cycles of the standard cotton programme at full and partial load, and the consumption of the low-power modes.}

This is a simple one but it can be tempting to get as many items into your load as possible. However, overloading the washing machine means it has to work harder to actually get the clothes clean. While you want to wait until you have a full load, make sure you can still fit a fist into the machine on top of your clothes. This leaves enough room for the clothes to maneuver during the cycle. An upgrade to an energy efficient appliance might be the answer to lower energy consumption, reduced bills, and a more sustainable household. Browse our full range of appliances here.