The Refrigerator: Angel or Devil?
Thursday, May 29th, 2008
Despite my penchant for peeing on trees and recycling my bathwater, I’m not as self-sufficient as you might think. There are some situations that just don’t seem to have any reasonable solutions. Take diapers. Before my boy was potty-trained, I spent way too much time debating the merits of cloth diapers versus disposable ones, when in the end they both suck—cloth ones require wasting lots of energy and water while disposables end up in the landfill.
Debating the merits of various refrigerators has proved to be just as frustrating. The one that came with this house is all but dead. It quickly turns my ice cream into soup. The best solution, according to those who are into hard-core self-sufficiency, would be for me to simply do without. Sure, I could make some sort of root cellar to preserve my perishable food items. Most of what goes into a refrigerator really doesn’t need to be there. But I’m just not that hard-core. This is where I draw the line. If there is one advance created by man that I prize especially, it’s refrigeration. I simply couldn’t stand to live in Texas without being able to open the fridge and grab a cold one.
So today I broke down and went shopping. I had heard wonderful things about Sun Frost refrigerators. They reduce energy consumption by 80 percent. They provide high humidity. They’re quiet. They’re really pretty. But they cost a freaking fortune. One will set you back nearly three grand. Like solar panels, they will eventually pay for themselves, but also like solar panels they’re a hard sell. I only have some many years left on this earth.
However, I did vow to buy one that was part of the government’s Energy Star program. Sadly, most of these fridges are high-end models that are not only out of my budget but also more fridge than I need. Most of the ones I saw consume close to 500 kWh a year, nearly 100 kWh more than the smaller, more inefficient models consume. That doesn’t make much sense to me. A smarter government program (oxymoron) would make the cheapest fridge the most energy efficient, and I would bet it would end up being the biggest seller. I finally found one that only consumes 383 kWh a year, not a huge improvement but it was the best I could find. And it’s as black as Johnny Cash’s shirt. My hope is that one day I’ll slap some solar panels on the roof and then I won’t feel so guilty about my desire for cold beer and ice cream.
The other problem that arises when buying a new fridge is what to do with the old one. Luckily, Austin Energy has a really cool program set up—they’re sending someone to my house to pick my old one up and they promise to dispose of it in an “environmentally-sound” manner and, oh yeah, they’re also giving me fifty bucks. In the end I’m happy with my decision. After four hours of research, I picked the most energy-efficient model I could afford. What more can a lowly consumer do?
Self-Sufficiency Meter: 29% (and dropping)