Manor News

Selecting design features and appliances for your new home is always exciting. Along with choosing the right colours and designs, it is important to consider choosing water and energy efficient appliances, fittings and fixtures. By choosing eco-friendly kitchen appliances, shower heads, dryers and washers etc, you can have significant savings over the life of your eco-friendly items. Here are tips on how to make your new home as energy and cost-efficient as possible.

New Appliances

When you are building a new home, you will be choosing new appliances such as a dishwasher, a washer and dryer, along with permanent fixtures such as taps, shower heads, water heaters, toilets etc. The Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards (WELS) scheme helps determines the water efficiency rating for various appliances. When choosing appliances, look at the product’s water star rating. Products have a rating between 1 and 6 stars, and 6 is the most efficient.

Cooktops and Other Appliances

Along with appliances that use water, there are also energy ratings for the amount of electricity and/or gas that appliances use. Energy ratings usually range from 1 to 10 for refrigerators and freezers, and 1 to 6 for other appliances such as dishwashers, cooktops, dryers, washers etc. There are various types of cooktops in the market but magnetic induction cooktops are becoming a popular choice in the kitchen as they are eco-friendly and offer quick-heating features like a gas appliance, yet they are cool to the touch when not in contact with metal, making them a safe option.

 Blockout Curtains

Curtains may be used in areas such as living areas, dining area and bedrooms. These areas can benefit greatly from insulated blockout curtains. By using blockout curtains, you can keep your home warmer in winter and cooler in the summer. Blockout curtains are also excellent choices in bedrooms, as they assist in better sleep by blocking out early morning sun.

It is often better to choose eco-friendly appliances, fixtures and fittings for your new home as these will assist in reduce water and energy bills for years to come and are also more environmentally friendly.