­When refrigerators hit the market place in the late 1800s , it was a huge leap forward for cultivated animation . It pop the question a simple solvent to the problem of bacteria - loaded , disease - make oldfood , not to mention the take of losing money buying food that went unfit before people could rust it all .

With all the obvious benefits of preserving food through artificial temperature reduction , it ’s hard to imagine citizenry voluntarily give way up their refrigerator . Still , a recent , belittled - shell movement within the ultra-“green " residential district has people doing just that . They ’re adjudicate to thin their carbon paper footprint by foregoing the icebox .

All household appliances use energy , and in almost all cases , energy means glasshouse - gas emissions . A typical icebox purchased in or after 2000 apply about 450 kilo­watt - hours of electricity per year ( an sometime model might use up two or three times that ) [ beginning : Wisegeek ] . Those kW - hours interpret to roughly 660 pound ( 272 kilograms ) of carbon dioxide , which is about the amount of CO2­ you emit by burning 35 gallons ( 132 cubic decimeter ) ofgasolinein your ­car [ sources : EPA , Slate ] . put forward simply , ram your car about 800 miles ( 1,287 kilometre ) emits the same amount of CO2­ into the atmosphere as cool off your intellectual nourishment for a year .

­For people who choose to give up the fridge , the greenhouse flatulence discharge related to running the widget outbalance the benefits of refrigeration . To most people living in the developed world , though , going without a refrigerator seems like a well-nigh impossible matter to do . Is it easier than we cerebrate ?

In this article , we ’ll find out how some eco - consecrated souls are living fridge - free , and we ’ll find out how the quietus of us can green up our infrigidation habits without getting quite so drastic .

To start , it seems giving up the refrigerator does n’t needfully think of giving up cold food .

Refrigerator Alternatives: Warm Green

­If you ’re like most masses in the United States and Europe , therefrigeratoris part of your daily liveliness . You store your leftovers , dairy farm product , fruits and vegetable to keep them good to corrode and help them last longer .

But , longevity apart , some of the things you refrigerate may do all right at way temperature . condiment like ketchup and table mustard , which stack of us are in the habit of store in the fridge , typically do n’t postulate to be refrigerated . And while fruit , vegetable , cheese and butter may stay comestible for weeks in the refrigerator , if you design to eat them within a hebdomad , they can do just fine on the retort in a coolheaded , wry seat . After that , though , you ’ll probably be dealing with schmalzy green groceries and musty dairy , and you ’ll have to throw them out .

This fact of refrigeration – it preservesfoodso it lasts longer – means that people who decide to go without have to neuter the means they buy and store solid food . First , few the great unwashed who have unplugged their icebox actually go without any cooling system at all . Most of them practice a tank , a pocket-size freezer or both . Some have a system of freeze bottle of weewee in a mini - freezer and then using those bottles to keep a larger cooler frigidity . That way of life , they can still salt away things like sum and Milk River at home . Others find a dear ice source and just live with a ice chest at home , with no electric cooling source at all . And if someone go in a cold climate , storing yogurt or bungalow tall mallow outside on a cold day is a executable alternative .

No matter what the cool down source , people without a refrigerator have to convert the way they buy solid food at the store . In other words , no more trips to theCostcomeat department . Buying chicken for dinner party intend buying precisely how much volaille you may eat , because you do n’t need to have to store remnant . Same go away for other perishables : or else of a 3 - pound ( 1.3 - kilogram ) bag of apples , you have to limit yourself to just a few ; Imperial gallon of Milk River may have to be supplant with quarts due to space limitations in the ice chest . And buying smaller amount of money can mean spending more money . Throwing away food that ’s get going bad can cost you money , too . So finances have to factor into the decisiveness to unplug the electric refrigerator .

There are a few other real - world issues that also have to be balance against the electricity you save by give up a refrigerator .

Saving Electricity: Cool Green

If someone would go so far as to check using arefrigerator , it must use up a whole mint of electrical energy , right ?

In fact , it does n’t . Compared to other major dwelling appliance , it uses very little energy . A quick run - down of vulgar , newer gadget shows that the icebox falls pretty far down on the inclination [ source : Wisegeek ] :

Since the home plate icebox is not a top consumer of office , some eco - minded individuals think getting free of it is a barren of Department of Energy ( so to speak ) . For one matter , the cost - benefit craft - off may not work out , since you might end up dealing with a bunch of rotten food that goes to waste product . For another , buy solid food in smaller amount can mean you consume more promotional material and cut moregasdriving to the grocery store more often .

Finally , for people who go the freezer road , the low vim savings accomplish by unplugging the fridge is reduced by stop up in the freezer . A small chest freezer ( less than 6.4 three-dimensional foundation or 0.18 three-dimensional meters ) can consume more than 200 kW - 60 minutes per year [ source : EERE ] .

So , what to do if you want to shrink your refrigeration footmark , but you ’re not giving up the electric refrigerator ? First , you could interchange an sometime unit with a new , high - efficiency Energy Star rated contraption . But you’re able to also practice good icebox habits ( which wo n’t cost you well-nigh as much ) , such as cleaning the coil each year to keep the unit operate efficiently ; testing the door seal to ensure it ’s tight ; decide what you require to rust before you afford the door so you do n’t stand there miss cold air ; and keeping the fridge comparatively full , which assist the temperature bounce back quicker after you open and shut the doorway .

And , as with most technology , keep your eye open for innovations . U.K. scientist are trying to revitalize an old refrigerator invent by Albert Einstein and confrere Leo Szilard , which has no moving parts and runs only on pressurized gasses . It ask no electricity at all . A Cambridge , Mass. , group is working on a electric refrigerator blueprint that run on a diesel ( or biodiesel ) author andsolar panels , and that cool using thermoelectrics instead of toxic Freon .

Eco - friendly icebox like these are far from murder the shelf , but you never know – in 20 geezerhood , home infrigidation could be as green as a field day ice chest .

For more data on " fleeceable " refrigeration ( or the deficiency thereof ) and related matter , look over the link on the next varlet .

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