Is the Beko ECOWMB81445LW A+++ the best energy efficient washing machine at an affordable price?

Posted by Ross Lammas

Is this a low cost super energy efficient washing machine for the price conscious consumer? At just over £200 it certainly looks that way. This washing machine features a large 8kg drum, which means fewer washes per week. According to Beko you can wash 40 shirts in one cycle! However, there’s also a small load (2kg) setting for those more pressing requests, it takes just 14 minutes – ideal for the moody teenager looking for their party outfit to be washed or that panic school uniform wash!

How does Beko ECO WMB81445 LW compare to other 8kg washing machines in the market? In Sust-it’s energy efficiency ranking it looks pretty good – especially in our lifetime running cost comparisons – given the low purchase price. Our only concern would be that Beko are only offing a measly 12-month guarantee, compared to Panasonic and Siemens 5 year warranties. One of the longest guarantees comes from Miele with a fantastic 10-year warranty – albeit at a hefty purchase price! Warranties are no guarantee of reliability, but they are good indicators of manufacturers confidence that their products will stand the test of time. Changing your appliances every 2 or 3 years makes no sense for the environment or your stress levels!

Air watts or motor watts, what does this mean when buying a vacuum?

Posted by Ross Lammas

It’s estimated that we typically spend one hour per week vacuuming. This, rather dull fact, does make it easy to determine how much it costs in electricity usage. New EU regulations effective from 1st September 2014, mean that vacuum cleaners sold in the EU are required to have an energy label the A to G ratings will cover energy use, cleaning performance on carpets and hard floors, and dust emissions. You simply look for your vacuums motor power, usually quoted in watts, then use Sust-it’s energy calculator to workout the running costs and multiply by fifty-two!

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So can you get energy efficient vacuum cleaners? This is where things get more complicated! Together with the ever growing list of vacuum cleaners good for pet hair, hard floors or allergy sufferers you might notice manufacturers boasting an eco vacuum cleaner as part of their range; low wattage models with a claim of the same sucking power as higher wattage motors. However, generally uprights vacuum cleaners tend to be more energy efficient than cylinder models, this is because the extra tubes and pipes cylinder vacuums use require more energy to create suction. When you add into this the potential for leaky seals in the pipes, it makes an upright a good eco choice. Then there are efficiencies of technologies used, such as centrifugal fan systems and microprocessor control; improved pipe and good nozzle design, all have an impact. Plus, more importantly making sure your filters are clean or your bag (if it’s got one) isn’t over full, will all make a difference too. The longer you vacuum the more it will cost!

What size of motor should you go for? Vacuum cleaner input power ratings have increased dramatically since the 1960s from a typical 500W to over 2500W today! If that makes your vacuuming five times quicker you’ll be using the same amount of power. If time isn’t an issue then a maybe a less powerful model will do. Air watts are a European test standard (IEC60312) for vacuums. An upright vacuum cleaner should be around 100 air watts and a cylinder vacuum cleaner needs to be about 220 air watts. However, in addition to having to display energy labels on vacuum cleaners, the regulations mean that manufacturers will not be able to make or import vacuum cleaners with motors that exceed 1,600 watts. There is debate about the sense of removing these larger motors from the market place – surely smaller wattage vacuum cleaners will take longer and use more energy? The challenge will be for manufacturers to come up with machines that use the energy most efficiently.

As Marlene Holzner, European Commission spokesman reported in 2013 “The amount [wattage] does not automatically indicate how well a vacuum cleaner will clean. The amount [wattage] indicates how much electrical power is used by the engine. The important question is: how efficiently is this power translated into picking up dust?” And the regulations are getting tougher a power levels are due to be reduced further from September 2017, when it will be cut to just 900 watts.

Our advice would be to go for an upright model and look for the air watts figures (manufacturers are not obliged to publish this though).

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Are eco kettles any good? Or are there better ways to save energy?

Posted by Ross Lammas

There certainly seems to be a lot interest in kettles – judging by the number of searches for ‘kettles’ we get on Sust-it. So why aren’t we trying to sell you ‘eco’ kettles? It’s quite simple; if your existing kettle is in good safe working order; regularly descaled and allows you to see how much water you’re boiling, there isn’t much point changing it. The important thing is how you use it. i.e. only boiling the amount of water you need, which is the biggest feature of most eco kettles.

How much does it cost to boil a kettle?

Ready to try our half fill challenge? We’ve developed a simple test which will illustrate how using your kettle efficiently could make a big difference to the amount of energy you’re using through-out the year. Fancy a brew? Let’s start by clicking here…

P.S. Please be safe, electrical devices don’t mix with water, hot water is dangerous and children should be supervised at all times. Two sugars please!

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i3 BMW – Big on the outside, big on inside, big on performance, small under the bonnet

Posted by Ross Lammas

For some reason I expected the i3 to be a small city car, not a stand-up tall people carrier. From a distance it certainly does look futuristic, with its modular panel design, carbon fibre monocoque – designed to reduce weight – counteracting the heavy batteries, which fit neatly into the floor pan. All helping to give the car a great centre of gravity for sweet handling and of course BMW traditional rear wheel drive.

The i3 sits on large, but narrow 18 inch wheels, adding to the cars tall stance, which makes getting in and out very civilized, even though it’s effectively only a two door vehicle, as the rear half doors open outwards, similar to BMW’s Mini clubman. The only disadvantage of this is it makes the over shoulder visibility pretty shocking! The door frames blocks your vision for those who are in the habit of covering your mirrors blind spot. See below…

Once inside it’s a smart looking place; lots of leg room front and back, hi-tech screens present you with more information than you’ll ever need know! My only criticism is that the screens look like you’ve propped a couple of iPads up on the dash, rather than an integrated dashboard.

And the steering wheel has light blue metallic piping running round the wheel, likely to get grubby – you can just imagine how that’s going to look after 100,000 miles of wear (if the battery pack lasts that long). Apart from that the cabin is a spacious, futuristic environment to travel in.

The i3 is a quick car, like most electric vehicles it pulls like a freight train, with bags of torque, O to 60mph is quoted at 7.2 seconds. Which certainly feels quick, however pulling it up does show that even with all its weight saving technologies, it’s still a heavy car, due to the size of the battery power pack. Around town the i3 is great fun, instant power is a real eye opener if you’ve never driven an all-electric car, even motorway cruising is a treat, set the cruise control and you can float silently up the motorway. The only surprise was the regenerative system that charges the batteries when you take your foot off the accelerator, this simulates engine-braking affect found on normal cars. The i3 felt like you had a 4-litre V8 slowing you down, not a tiny electric motor. I did find myself adapting my driving style to make the most of this regeneration and using the brakes very sparingly; all helping extend the batteries life.

The model we drove was the ‘range extended’ version that has a 650cc motorbike engine running quietly in the back. This only gives you a measly extra 40+ miles range, due to its tiny two-gallon fuel tank. Not much good if you’re planning a decent run, strange that BMW couldn’t squeeze a bigger tank in. Saying that, the boot capacity is pretty compromised too. Perhaps that’s why, or is it something to do with the small capacity of the generators engine? Under the bonnet I expected to see some decent storage, disappointingly there was just room for the power cable!

What do you get for the money? A well built, nice looking, comfortable car, quiet and quick. Claimed max range is 118 miles (pure electric versions) that’s only 3p per mile. CO2 emissions, if you were using standard mains electricity, would be 57 CO2g/km. Prices start from £30k for the pure electric versions, rising to £33k for the range extender model. Drawbacks? You will still need another car for those long journeys due to ‘range extenders’ lack of range!

Euro NCAP – BMW i3 – Four Star Crash test

Top tips for choosing the best energy saving washing machine for your home

Posted by Ross Lammas

It’s not in our nature, but try to look beyond the purchase price – and consider the running costs. Also energy labels on washing machines can be rather confusing, as they now display average electricity consumed in Kilowatts hours (kWh) per year based on 220 cycles, regardless of the capacity of the machine. This means we get the strange situation of the energy label on an ‘A’ rated 6kg machine saying it uses less energy per year, than a more efficient A+++ 12kg machine – which does double the same amount of washing!

Washing Machines ranked by costs

Larger capacity machines can use more electricity per cycle, however, if you regularly have large loads of washing they are far more efficient per unit of electricity consumed – as they save on the number of loads. The most economic and environmentally friendly option for the average family is buy a large drummed machine, as you’ll do far more washing per unit of electricity. Lots of manufacturers are now focusing on larger capacity machines, due to their energy saving credentials. It seems crazy that Energy Labels aren’t reflecting this change and are displaying confusing information.