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NYC
Kitchen Remodeling: Greening Made Easy |
Remodeling Your Manhattan Kitchen? Make It Green
If you’re tired of your old, out-dated kitchen and thinking about remodeling,
consider transforming your home’s hearth into an eco-friendly and energy
efficient room. Creating a green kitchen in New York City reduces your exposure
to toxic chemicals, reduces your carbon footprint and will ultimately save you
money on utility bills—which allows you to make back a little of what you’ve
been losing on heating and cooling costs (not to mention what you’re losing
at the pump lately). But with fuels costs rising and carbon emissions at an all
time high, it’s comforting to know that the process of transforming your
NYC kitchen into a green room is relatively simple and involves choosing energy-
and water-efficient appliances and choosing sustainable and non-toxic products
whenever possible. Other issues, such as ensuring that all exterior windows and
doors in the room are properly sealed will ensure that you don’t lose heat
in winter or cool air in summer.
Here are some easy ways to green your NY kitchen remodeling (NYC) project.
Choose An Energy Efficient Dishwasher
An Energy Star qualified dishwasher can actually save you up to $30 a year in
utility costs. These Energy Star qualified dishwashers use at least 41% less
energy than the federal minimum standard for energy consumption and, since they
use less water (and less hot water) than standard models, you’ll also waste
less water—which is good for the environment. To further increase your
Energy Star dishwasher’s efficiency only run the dishwasher with a full
load since most of the energy used goes to heat water and select the air-dry
option rather than the heat-dry, rinse-hold and pre-rinse features.
Choose An Energy Star Refrigerator
Your refrigerator is the single biggest electricity hog in your NYC kitchen so
switching to an Energy Star refrigerator can actually lower your entire energy
use by more than 10%. Newer energy efficient models have better insulation and
more efficient compressors, as well as more precise temperature and defrost mechanisms.
But if you want to buy the most energy efficient fridge possible: select a top
freezer model since it uses 10-25% less energy than side-by-side models; forgo
the automatic ice-maker since it can increase your refrigerator’s energy
consumption by 14-20%; forgo the anti-sweat feature or buy a fridge with an energy
saver switch that turns down heating coils since these heaters consume 5-10%
more energy than fridges without one; and keep in mind that the most energy-efficient
refrigerators are 16-20 cubic feet.
Choose Zero VOC Paints
Before repainting your Manhattan kitchen (NYC), take some time to consider not
only the perfect color but also the type of paint. Many traditional paints contain
toxic chemicals—or volatile organic compounds (VOC)--like solvents, heavy
metals, chemical residuals, formaldehyde or other harmful preservatives that
off-gas into the air long after the paint has dried, creating an unhealthy indoor
air quality for you and your family. (This is why pregnant women are asked not
to do any painting because of the risk these chemicals pose to their unborn children.)
There are many low or zero VOC paints available today in a staggering array of
colors so that giving your New York City kitchen remodel a new look doesn’t
have to mean endangering your health.
Choose A Green Countertop
Engineered stone, recycled fiber, recycled solid surface, recycled aluminum and
concrete countertops are all green, durable, and hassle-free solutions to traditional
tile or natural stone countertops. Some popular brands to consider include: CaesarStone,
Richlite, True Form Concrete, IceStone, Avonite, Alkemi, and Eleek.
MyHome is ready and able to help you with your NYC kitchen renovation whether
you want to simply buy green products like LED lights or get an energy audit
to determine all of the ways we can save you money while protecting the environment
at the same time.
Contact us now and get your NYC kitchen remodeling project started today. |
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