The Hot Fridge
by Justin Thomas, Virginia on 08.27.05
When a refrigerator cools things inside, it releases heat outside (usually out the back). The Hot Fridge is an experimental design by Hae-jin Kim that makes use of the wasted heat. The condensor of the Hot Fridge is placed at the top, and heat is released there. You can place food on the top the fridge and keep it warm. The Hot Fridge also uses fabric pocket bags for storage shelves instead of the usual plastic shelves — this is supposed to help air circulation and allow easy storing. :: Hae-jin Kim via We Make Money Not Art
fantastically simple idea - why didn't we think of this before now? i can see this feature eventually trickling down to regular fridges. maybe the heat could be used to heat some water that comes out a tap that sits next to the cooled water tap on the door of the (upmarket) fridge?
Actually we are going to have to move to some sort of thermal system standard in all homes. That takes the waste heat and cold from things like refrigerator and air conditioners, then shares them with other devices that can use either or both depending on the time of year. I mean they make air conditioners that keep your hot water heater hot almost year around. But imagine if you had a system that allowed you refrigerator to get it's cooling from your heat pump in the winter. Link that all into a geo-thermal system and you could cut the energy footprint of most homes in half.