Energy Saving Presents

There is no filter that can make these Christmas presents look exciting, but having just moved house these are the things that I really do need right now.

Unfortunately, my much loved cordless Dyson vacuum decided to stop working as soon as we arrived at our new house and so although I do still have my very old Henry he just doesn’t have enough oomph anymore to be efficient. I have therefore now bought myself this bagless, corded Meile which I have to say is a revelation. It is so much quicker and easier to use with its adjustable programmes, EcoTeQ floorhead (which apparently gives it its powerful and efficient suction) and it even has a ComfortClean feature which will apparently keep it working at its best for longer. Apparently this will last me for up to 20 years!

So although I will miss the convenience of my cordless Dyson, the materials used to make its battery and its short life span meant that I simply couldn’t justify buying another one.

In terms of the new kettle, we had previously been using a hob kettle on our induction hob in our old house, however here in our new house we have a gas hob and the water now takes sooooo long to boil! It therefore made me question the most energy efficient way that we could boil water.

As it turns out an electric kettle is a lot better than a gas hob and so after a lot of research I finally decided on this AEG kettle. The key features for me were its automatic switch off after boiling, its water level gauge, being able to boil just enough water for one cup, its hidden heating element to allow the easy cleaning of limescale (to prolong its life) and as a bonus it even has a variable temperature control (apparently coffee should be brewed at a lower temperature to tea). I didn’t go for the recommended insulated kettle as we tend to use the water as soon as it is boiled, but it does have a 40 minute keep warm function although I don’t know how energy efficient that really is?

There was a lot of choice of kettles with these functions however they tended to be made mainly out of plastic which I really wanted to try to avoid. The Phillips Eco Conscious (bio-based plastic) kettle did tempt me for a while however in the end I decided that this stainless steel one was a better option for me.

Boiling water may seem like a small thing but when it is something that we all do so often it must surely be worth making sure that we do it in the most efficient way possible. Not to mention saving some money with the cost of gas and electricity at the moment?! With this in mind I also now make sure that I boil my cooking water in the kettle instead of a pan on the gas hob to maximise those savings not to mention my time.

If you already use an induction hob or electric kettle you don’t even need to buy a new kettle, apparently the biggest impact that you can have is by simply only boiling what you need, turning it off immediately after it has boiled and if you know you will need more hot water again soon keep any excess hot water in a thermos flask.

So although some of you might be horrified by the thought of my very boring presents this year, I am actually quite excited to have them.