There’s nothing like a new appliance to make your home feel brand new, and if you live in BC there’s even more reason to pick up a new washing machine, dryer, or refrigerator right now.
Starting on September 30th and running until November 30th, 2016, BC Hydro will be giving amazing rebates on select ENERGY STAR® refrigerators, clothes washers and dryers. You can actually get up to $300 back, and that makes a huge dent in your appliance bill.
The rebate is just one reason to buy ENERGY STAR® appliances. Here are a few others.
ENERGY STAR Clothes Washers
We’re all making an effort to reduce our carbon footprints, and along with focusing on things like recycling, choosing an ENERGY STAR appliance means you use less resources to do every day tasks.
Did you know that ENERGY STAR washing machines are 15% more efficient than a standard washing machine? It’s true, and it all comes down to high tech wash systems that are designed to use less water when they wash and have a higher speed spin to remove the most amount of water before you put them in the dryer.
I have an ENERGY STAR washing machine and my clothes feel almost dry when they come out, and that means my dryer doesn’t have to use as much electricity to dry them.
ENERGY STAR Clothes Dryers
Unless you’ve seen an ENERGY STAR clothes dryer in action, it can be hard to understand how they save you money on your electric bill. Designed to be 20% more efficient than a standard dryer, ENERGY STAR dryers have features like moisture sensing, auto-termination by temperature, and end-of-cycle detection. That means when you put your clothes in the dryer and set it for a set amount of time, your dryer will constantly detect whether or not those clothes are almost dry. If they are, they dryer will turn off before the cycle is over.
I’ve seen moisture sensing at work, and I love how my clothes are dry but don’t come out burning hot because they really didn’t need to be in for an extra 20 minutes. Some ENERGY STAR models also have reverse tumble so your clothes don’t get all tied up together, which is a common problem with duvet covers and sheets. Thanks to reverse tumble I never have half dry sheets because they became knotted at some point in the drying cycle.
ENERGY STAR Refrigerators
Gone are the energy-guzzling refrigerators of the past that would create blocks of ice on the walls of the freezer. ENERGY STAR refrigerators are 15% more efficient than the new standard models, and that’s because they’re designed with high efficiency compressors that create less heat and use less energy.
ENERGY STAR refrigerators also have improved insulation, better airflow, and keep a precise temperature throughout the unit. That means the cold air can touch every corner of your fridge, keeping your food evenly cool and eliminating hot spots like some older refrigerators. They also have defrost mechanisms so you don’t need an ice pick to get to your ice cream.
You can check with your local energy provider to see if you qualify for additional savings. In British Columbia you can get rebates just for buying select ENERGY STAR appliances, and you can take a look at this post for more information.
