What Can You Take Out of Your Fridge?
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 03.20.07
TreeHugger knows that appliances use accounts for something like 20 percent of your home energy use, and that the refrigerator is one of the biggest consumers (insert fridge-running joke here). While refrigeration is a useful innovation, too much can be detrimental to your energy bill, your home's carbon footprint and even some foods; the taste and quality of things like avocados, bananas and tomatoes all suffer from chilly fridge temperatures. Salon has an interesting article about the items that are unnecessarily kept in many of our fridges, asking the question, "Is it ignorance, obliviousness, marketing or simply our overly electrified, easily panicked American DNA that makes us squander electricity keeping ingredients cold that could survive just fine at room temperature?" Things like mustard, soy sauce and vinegar (the original preservative) are found in many a chill chest, causing who-knows-how-much energy to be wasted from repeated opening and shutting to retrieve the needlessly chilled items. Sure, a full fridge operates more efficiently than an empty one, but an overstuffed one cuts back on necessary air circulation, and the bottom line is that we've all got stuff in our fridges that doesn't need to be there. So the next time you open the door, take a peek and think about what doesn't have to be there; just don't leave the door open too long. This TreeHugger was surprised to see all the things that could live just as comfortably in the pantry. What can you take out of your fridge? More at ::Salon
Actually, keeping your fridge full is one of the best ways to maintain an even temperature and thus use less electricity. An empty fridge has no items to retain the cool built up. The food thereby acts as additional insulation. The effect of cooling all those condiments down is much less than the energy needed to maintain the temperature.
Yes, the physics behind this seem iffy. Granted, it takes energy to remove heat from a particular item - I think a big culprit is putting still-hot leftovers in the fridge - but once an item such as mustard is cold, id doesn't take much to keep it cold. In fact, the thermal mass of, say, a liter of pop, will act to stabilize the temperature within a fridge. One of my tricks is to keep a frozen 3-gallon water jug in the freezer. Not only does it stabilize the temperature (have you ever noticed all the cold air that "pours" out when you open the freezer door?) it also serves as an emergence chiller if the electricity fails for a few days.
The largest determinant of the cost of running a fridge is the amount of time with the door open. The point of the article is that the fewer items you store in the fridge, the less likely you will need to open the door, not the mention the reduced search time when you do venture inside.
As to the empty/full fridge debate, the goal is to reduce airspace. When you open the door, cold air spills out and is replaced by external air which must then be cooled again. Less conductive materials would be better than more, but at this level, the marginal benefit is negligible.
Did you guys read the post?
"Sure, a full fridge operates more efficiently than an empty one"
"causing who-knows-how-much energy to be wasted from repeated opening and shutting to retrieve the needlessly chilled items"
Of course a full fridge is better than an empty one, but a closed fridge is better than an open one.. And it could even be argued that people might need smaller fridges if they didn't put so much stuff in there (big Coscto things that go bad before you can eat them and stuff that doesn't need to be kept cold.. heh)
Emptying the shelves of unnecessary or out-dated stuff makes sense to me -- on many levels:)
I like the idea of keeping a jug of frozen water in the freezer to stabilize the temp. I'm going to give that a try. Thanks.
Maureen
My own contribution -
I had some beer outside on the porch (OK- call me Joe Sixpack). It had been there through a couple of seasons from 80degrees to -5. Was just fine the other night at the 30 degree ambient temp when I opened it (Corona).
More seriously, I like the posts on using cold outside air to cool the fridge contents in the winter. I think a 12 volt boat engine compartment blower with some pvc would do just fine for it.
vsk
Anonymous already touched upon this, but I think one of the more important points that can be derived from the article is that perhaps we don't need such massive refrigerators in the first place.
and now the real solution:
a fridge built like a freezer! Openeing the door is no longer as detramental, just have to get creative with how you put stuff in the fridge is all
There was an article on Treehugger a while ago about a $600 solar power system. They said it would power a small workshop out in the boonies.
Why not adapt this for your refrigerator? If it's the most power-hungry appliance in your house, the savings would be recouped fairly quickly, and you wouldn't have to worry about your food spoiling if the power goes out.
If CitizenRe falls through, I'm planning on using my 2007 tax returns to do this next year. And the best part is that my wife actually thinks this is a great idea!
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That system is linked here
-CD