New study reveals common household habits wasting energy in the home
- Nearly half of adults admit they rarely adjust settings on their kitchen appliances
- 1 in 5 admit to using no more than two settings on home appliances
- 1 in 2 felt overwhelmed by product efficiency labels on home appliances
- Washing machines and dishwashers in the top 5 most confusing kitchen appliances
11 December 2022 – A new survey of 2,000 homeowners and renters in the UK revealed that while energy efficiency is a top priority for almost 4 in 5 (76%), nearly half (44%) of those surveyed admitted they rarely adjusted the settings on their kitchen appliances, according to use.
The analysis of 2,000 British adults, commissioned by global appliance manufacturer Beko, investigated consumer behaviours when it comes to energy efficiency within homes and found that only one in five Brits could confidently say all their home appliances were energy efficient. The respondents who could not make the claim, said their appliances were bought too long ago or had lost the paperwork that would tell them.
The study also revealed common energy inefficient habits, including regularly leaving gadgets on charge for longer than they needed to (32%), and overfilling the fridge (57%).
This is not to say that Brits do not care about being energy efficient. In fact, over half (67%) of those surveyed have prioritised energy efficiency when deciding to buy a new home appliance. It was also revealed that 55% of the surveyed population intend to replace old appliances with more energy efficient options in the next 12 months, with washing machines, fridges and ovens top of the wish list.
Akın Garzanlı, Chief Marketing Officer at Arçelik, Beko’s parent company,commented: “Our data has revealed striking insight into attitudes and habits within households in the UK, showing that while energy efficiency is a key priority for many there is a discrepancy in how appliances are actually used in the home. In recent years there have been major advances in home technologies and many appliances today have features and settings that enable them to be used in a more energy efficient manner. It’s important for us that our customers feel supported and confident about the full range of their appliance settings.”
“It is great to see from the research that while many fall into the trap of sticking to what they know with appliance settings and old habits, there is a clear appetite to improve such behaviours moving forward. I am glad to say that this appetite is shared with businesses too as we continually look to develop better solutions for home living. For example, Beko’s AquaTech® washing machine is equipped with technology that conserves energy by replacing vigorous drum movements with the water pressure instead, which offers now up to 30% less energy consumption than the class A energy limit.”
Beko is partnering with Youreko, an energy efficiency tool that calculates the lifetime running costs of appliances, to provide information to consumers on potential cost and energy savings when choosing new products. This feature is currently available for consumers to use on the UK Beko website and Beko Poland, and will be integrated into Beko Germany, Romania, France, Italy, Austria, Spain and Netherlands sites as well. The partnership involves the integration of the Youreko tool on Beko’s website to display information to the general public on how energy efficient Beko’s appliances are compared with the least energy efficient models and how much money the manufacturer’s appliances could save consumers in the long term. The tool supplements the listings of Beko’s washing machines, tumble dryers, dishwashers and refrigerators which all boast energy efficient technologies within.
