Saving Energy with Refrigerators and Freezers

The technology of manufacturing refrigerators and freezers has progressed rapidly over the past ten years. The best new refrigerators use less than 500 kilowatt-hours per year compared to the 1000 to 2000 annual kilowatt-hours used by older models. A new refrigerator will save you at least 500 kilowatt-hours if you buy one that has an Energy Star® label, indicating the Department of Energy's and Environmental Protection Agency's seal of approval.

Refrigerators with side-by-side doors use more energy than units with upper and lower doors because the side-by-side units have more linear feet of door seals. If you defrost your refrigerator when it collects 1/8-inch of ice, a manual defrost unit uses less energy than one with automatic defrost.

Refrigerators normally have an energy-saver switch somewhere inside. When the energy-saver switch is on, it turns off the door mullion heaters. These heaters prevent frost formation between the door and door mullion during humid weather. In dryer climates, the energy-saver switch can be permanently engaged.

Use a thermometer to check the temperatures of your refrigerator and freezer. Turn your energy-saver switch to “On” if you live where the humidity isn’t too high.

The operating cost of a refrigerator or freezer is usually somewhere between $80 and $140 annually. Therefore, you should have a defensible reason for running two refrigerators or a freezer. If you don't really need that second refrigerator or freezer, sell it, or recycle it at your local landfill. The landfill should have a special area for recycling refrigerators where the refrigerant liquid is removed before the refrigerator is transported to its final resting place. If you keep your old refrigerator, dust the coils once or twice each year.

The Homeowners Handbook to Energy Efficiency has a more information about refrigerator and freezer efficiency.