Save Energy: Kettle            

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Believe it or not the kettle is one of the highest-powered devices in the house. A modern kettle is typically between 1500 and 3000 Watts.

 

Hence any savings made here will be big, and more to the point be made every time you make a cup of tea.


HOW IT WORKS:

The kettle consists of an element that draws huge amounts of power which sits in the water. Modern kettles are flat-bottomed and have their elements underneath the base, while older kettles have an element that sits in the jug itself.

The power they draw is between 1.5 and 3 kW. Although you could in theory have a lower-powered kettle, it's just it would take longer to boil up.

The trouble with high powered kettles is that it's just so easy to overfill and boil up way more than needed, because they boil so quickly. In many ways a lower powered kettle would make us more aware of heating just what we needed.

So what can we do ?

POSITIVE STEPS:

  Boil only what you need

The amount of energy used by a kettle depends on how much water it is heating. Boiling a litre of water will use twice the energy as boiling half a litre. So it makes sense to boil only what is required.

Hence if you want a cup of tea, boil a cup's worth of water.

In doing so make sure that the kettle element is covered, so that it is heating water rather than the air. This is where modern flat-bottomed kettles score - the element is effectively flat and thus always covered.
 
 

 

  How much is a cupful ?

Although some kettles have a scale on the side, it's worth checking just how much a cupful really is in yours. It can be very easy to get into the habit of boiling two or three times the amount you need, which makes each cup of tea have double or triple the Carbon footprint it need have.

Check it next time you brew up by pouring a cupful into the kettle and seeing where it comes to.

 

  Refill after

Once you've poured your drink out, the kettle actually retains a lot of heat. This is in the walls, the base and particularly in the element. Normally it would cool down quickly and waste this heat in the form of a bit of steam coming out. However this heat can be saved and put to good use.

By refilling the kettle with fresh water after you've used it, this heat will be transferred into the water, warming it up. Provided the lid is on, this lower temperature heat can actually be kept for quite a long time. What it means is next time you boil up the water you will be starting from a warmer temperature - thus requiring less energy.

Doing this can save 20 - 30% each time you do it.

 

   Eco Kettles

There's a growing market for super efficient kettles that help you make your Carbon Teaprint as low as possible. Some of these have an option that boils only to 85'C, while others have two chambers that allow to dispense and boil only what you actually need.

Click here for a nice example: