10 Easy Kitchen Tips For a Greener Home

1. Put lids on pots - This speeds up heating, using less energy (consider purchasing a pressure cooker to further speed up cooking)
2. Use the right size pot on the right sized burner
3. Keep stove reflectors clean - this makes sure they are most efficient in their purpose is to amplify heat
4. Let leftovers cool before placing them in fridge
5. Don't open the oven when cooking,  doing so reduces the oven temperature by 25 degrees or more
6. Thaw food in the fridge instead of cooking it from frozen
7. Skip or abbreviate the preheat period
8. Consider a toaster oven for smaller projects
9. Try a convection oven - they are more energy efficient, cutting energy use by 20 percent
10. Minimize your opening and closing for the refrigerator. The Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences (University of Florida) says that for most families, the careless opening of the fridge wastes enough energy to run their washing machine 50 times.