Microwave Ovens - Can They be Energy Efficient?

Most homes these days would struggle to get by without a microwave oven. Those who are concerned about the planet and try to conserve energy may however be concerned that microwave ovens may be using a lot of power and be potentially damaging to the environment.

The first thing to think about with a microwave oven is that not all of the power which is drawn into the microwave goes into the food you are heating.

In fact, only around 65% of the power will actually go directly into heating the food. Some of the remainder of the power will go to the lights in the microwave and moving the turntable which rotates your food while it is cooking. There will also be a significant amount of energy which is drawn into operating the fan inside and the other moving parts which you can’t see, such as the motor. Although this level of efficiency may not seem that great, it is worth considering that heating the same meal in a conventional oven will actually need another 33% or so more energy than using the microwave. This is because the microwave oven is literally heating only the food, whereas a convection oven is heating the entire chamber.

There are a few things that you can also do to try and reduce the amount of energy which is expended by your microwave:

1. Try to only heat things in small amounts. If for instance you are planning on cooking a lasagna for tea in the microwave, don’t simply place the whole baking dish in at once to heat up. Instead, plate the lasagna up into separate portions and heat each one separately. This will let the microwave heat the food quicker which means that the microwave may be more efficient overall then if it were heating only one large item for a long time.

2. When you are buying a new microwave make sure that you look at the energy rating which is given on the front of the machine. This will help you to determine the best-performing microwaves which are available in your budget. You should be looking for those microwave ovens which are grade A if you want to make sure that you are buying one which is as energy-efficient as possible. It is not only the more expensive models of microwave oven which are available in this grade. There are also often cheaper models which may be just as energy-efficient.

3. Some of the newer models of microwave oven contain special halogen lamps which add an additional level of heating to the food. This means that your food will cook quicker, and as they are using the energy which would normally power the lights anyway, less energy is used overall.

So overall, microwave ovens have the potential to be more energy-efficient for food preparation than more traditional cooking methods. In addition, making sure that you purchase one which has been shown to be energy-efficient is the best way to make sure that you are not wasting excess energy.