ENVIRONMENT : Appliances That Work Better, Cleaner, Cheaper

Advancing technology has produced a whole range of improved products that save energy in your home. If you take advantage of them, your family can live better, cleaner and cheaper.

Consider these options:

Appliances

Because they run 24 hours a day, refrigerators use up to 20% of household electricity. Also, manufacturers have long relied on ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) for both coolants and in the making of insulation for refrigerator doors and walls. But help is on the way.

Another appliance with a major environmental impact is the washing machine. Consider purchasing a top-loader model, which requires about a third less water than the average front loader. If you wash eight loads a week, it will save up to 500 gallons of water a month.

Windows

If your home had simple double-pane windows 20 years ago, you were among the vanguard of the environmentally conscious. But today, even untreated triple panes aren’t the best. Look for low-emissivity windows with a special coating that blocks heat from escaping. Or try new super windows, which use thin HeatMirror films as heat barriers. They are three times more effective than triple-pane glass alone.

Toilets

About half of the water washing down household drains annually in this country passes through toilets. These thirsty fixtures average about five gallons per flush. Do streams and rivers a favor by switching to 1.6-gallon-per-flush models, which are becoming the mandated standard for new housing.

Lights

Fluorescents require much less electricity to operate than the typical incandescent bulbs. For instance, a 75-watt incandescent can be replaced by an 18-watt compact fluorescent. Not only will fluorescents save energy, they last seven times longer.

Heating

Today, many furnaces achieve 90% efficiency or better.

Other recent advances include improved heat-recovery ventilation systems to keep heat in the house, better insulation techniques and refined passive solar designs.