The SmartPower Minute: Shine the Right Light America!

Posted on February 25, 2009
Filed Under SmartPower Minute | Leave a Comment

The SmartPower Minute #15 Keep it in Your Lap America!

Posted on February 19, 2009
Filed Under SmartPower Minute | Leave a Comment

The SmartPower Minute #15 Let’s Get Energy Smart America!

Posted on February 12, 2009
Filed Under SmartPower Minute | Leave a Comment

The SmartPower Minute #14 Roll Up Those Sleeves America!

Posted on February 5, 2009
Filed Under SmartPower Minute | Leave a Comment

SmartPower SmartTip of the Week: Give your oven some TLC

Posted on February 5, 2009
Filed Under SmartPower Minute | Leave a Comment

oven2 by Brian Keane

Sometimes, being Energy Smart may mean getting a little down and dirty. Take it from our friend Elizabeth in the latest SmartPower Minute.

Most of the newer models of ovens have a self-clean option. This gives us the modern luxury of having a “clean�? oven by just flicking a switch . . . and waiting a few hours.

Now, granted, that seems like it makes things pretty easy. But it’s important to know just how much it costs you, and how much energy it takes to heat your oven up to the level where it “cooks away�? or vaporizes the remnants of your spilled casserole.

How much is it? Well, if you use the self-clean option on your oven, say, once a month it costs you around $40 a year. Yep, it costs you more than a tank of gas to burn off all the gunk on the inside of your oven each year.

On top of that, the energy you use puts nearly 340 lbs. of carbon into the atmosphere each year. In other words, if all of us stopped using the self-clean option on our ovens, not only would we each save $40 (in this less than stellar economy) but together we could also save millions of pounds of CO2 pollution.
And that seems like a pretty cool community effort.

So, reconsider using the self-clean, and instead just give your oven a quick wipe down when it needs it. You’ll be putting in a minor amount of human energy to save a tremendous amount of fossil fuel energy.

Brian Keane is President of SmartPower

Cross-posted at Shine from Yahoo