Buy a Low Energy Coffee Machine
There are a number of different designs of coffee machines available on the market. One of the designs involves having a large steam boiler that only produces steam. These are often 2 or more litres in capacity and take a long time to reach boiling temperatures – often 5 to 10 minutes. You’re better choosing a steam thermo-block or a smaller machine that heats the water boiler to create steam. Check the wattage of the machine you want to buy and get something with a smaller boiler. A 350ml boiler is usually plenty for home use.
Don’t Pre-Heat Your Coffee Machine
It’s important to allow all the components of your coffee machine to reach a consistent temperature before making a coffee. As a rule of thumb the first two coffees from a machine won’t taste as good because the components haven’t heated. But is turning on your coffee machine an hour before use the best solution? I prefer to let it heat for a minute or two and then make a couple of pretend coffees without using any grinds. This lets me heat the machine, the group handle and the cups. It also uses a lot less energy than leaving the machine on for an hour.
Turn Off Your Coffee Machine
If you’re not using it TURN IT OFF. In our office of 4 staff we have a super-automatic and I really encourage the staff to turn it on for each use. It only takes about 2 minutes to heat so why leave it on all day for the 10 coffees that we drink? You’d be surprised at how much energy it takes to keep a boiler at 90 degrees and a thermo-block at 160 degrees. For a larger office where the machine needs to be left on all day use a timer to turn if off at night and on the weekends.
Reduce Packaging Waste
While coffee pods might be convenient, I cringe every time I peel open the individual wrapping. If you use freshly ground coffee or coffee beans instead you'll cut down dramatically on packaging.
Use Ceramic Cups Not Disposable Cups
Not only will your coffee taste better when you use a ceramic cup, you'll be reducing the waste from disposable cups. There's a number of calculations on how many disposable cups it takes to break even with the extra resources needed to make a ceramic cup, but ultimately you can use a ceramic cup thousands of times and save landfill.
Feed the Worms
Coffee grounds are great for the garden and especially good for worm farms. I’m sure the caffeine has the worms up all night but hey, what’s a worm going to do anyway?? If you don’t have a worm farm throw the grounds straight on the garden.
Buy Sustainable Coffee
This is a tricky subject that I don’t pretend to know a lot about. Suffice to say that buying coffee has political, social and environmental ramifications and if it’s not sustainable we’ll all lose out eventually. There are a number of standards or organisations promoting something better than your standard beans. These include Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance, organic and bird safe. Help these organisations by purchasing certified coffee beans.
Be Greedy
All of these actions are really in your own best interest. Saving energy saves you money, especially with rising energy costs. Feeding worms gives you compost for your garden. In the long run we all benefit from these actions.
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