With climate change being talked about daily in the media, many people are wondering how exactly they can make a difference. The key is to start in your own home, and this article will guide you through changes you can make today and in the long term, to start lowering the carbon footprint of one of your most used rooms – the kitchen.

Kitchen energy reducing tips:

• Turn up the fridge. It only needs to be 4C in order to keep food from spoiling.
• Defrost the freezer, so that it works more efficiently.
• Downsize your appliances – cook with the microwave or a toaster oven whenever possible, they use a fraction of the energy the stove does.
• When you do cook on the stove, put lids on the pots (allowing you to cook at a lower setting), don’t preheat the oven unless you’re baking a dessert, and turn off the oven a few minutes before you’re finished cooking (as long as the door is closed, the temperature will stay steady for several minutes).
• Fill your kettle or coffee maker with only the amount of water you actually need, it will boil in less time.
• Invest in the most efficient appliances you can, the reduced energy use will repay your investment sooner than you might think.
• And if you are replacing your appliances, get the largest fridge/freezer that your kitchen will accommodate, so that you won’t need a second in the garage or basement.
• The dry cycle of the dishwasher is the most energy intensive part of dishwashing. Turn the machine off first, and open the door to let the dishes air dry instead.

Kitchen waste reduction tips:

• Change Friday from pizza night to leftover night.
• Compost your food scraps. When organic material is put in the land fill, it decomposes without oxygen, resulting in methane production, and methane is 20 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. And composting is easy – check out www.composting.org for details.
• Eat more greens – not only do livestock release methane, forests are continually clear-cut to make grazing land.
• Stock your fridge with local fare. Remember, the trucks and planes used to ship food release a lot of carbon dioxide (not to mention other GHGs and smog-producing chemicals), so for your next shopping trip, try to find a local alternative for as many items on your list as possible.
• Buy in bulk, with the least packaging you can. For instance, buy the big tub of yoghurt instead of the single serving cups. You’ll end up with less in the garbage, and many of the bigger containers make great left-over storage.
• Buy recycled kitchen supplies whenever possible. Seventh Generation makes recycled versions of everything from plastic garbage bags to aluminum foil.

Kitchen water saving tips:

• Buy an aerator for the sink faucet. If you leave the faucet running to rinse your dishes, this $5 investment will pay for itself in a matter of weeks, not to mention save gallons of water.
• Make sure that your dishwasher is full when you run it, to get the most out of the water it uses. If you have to run a smaller load, check to see if you can adjust the load size setting on your machine.
• Pay attention to what goes down the drain. The more solid and chemical waste that goes into our sewage, the more energy is spent purifying the water. So skip the garburator (now that you’re composting, you don’t need it anyway), and switch to natural cleaning products. You’d be amazed at what baking soda and lemon concentrate can do.

Start with these steps, and you’ll soon have a much lower carbon footprint.