Could You Live Without a Refrigerator?

According to the New York Times, "drastic as the move might seem, a small segment of the green movement has come to regard the refrigerator as an unacceptable drain on energy, and is choosing to live without it."

A fridge-free existence can be had with savvy planing, or reducing cooling to a small freezer, which can serve for meat and vegetables, the Times reports. A cooler with frozen bottles of water can keep food cold, and meals carefully planned, with fresh food bought in smaller quantities.

Photo via Flickr

So what's starting this movement? The fridge, one of the few appliances on all the time, is the number one household energy sucker, the U.S. Department of Energy tells us--that is, unless you have a spa or a pool pump. And these guzzling beasts generally last around 15 years--a fact that is seriously detrimental to your electric bill and carbon dioxide production, considering the energy-saving technological advances that have occurred over the last few years. Yet even a newer Energy Star-certified model still consumes some 650 kilowatt-hours per year, and produces around 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide. Hefty figures in this time of global warming.

Can't go that far? Try unplugging it when you go on vacation or slim down to a minifridge.

More on Refrigerators From PlanetGreen.com and TreeHugger.com
Buy Green: Bottom Freezer Refrigerators
Top Rated, Energy Star Refrigerators
Solar Powered Refrigerator Could Bring Health and Energy Savings
GE Reinvents the Fridge

More From Mairi Beautyman on Huffington Post
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The Top Five Most Popular New Year's Resolutions And How Being Green Can Help You Keep Them
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Comments

[strawhouses]

Here's a better link to Kelly Hart's cool pantry info:

The Lost Art of Pantries and Root Cellars
http://greenhomebuilding.com/articles/pantries.htm

This is a proven method that works great and is relatively simple.

[strawhouses]

One electricity-free option is a cool pantry like the one Kelly Hart built at GreenHomeBuilding.com:
www.greenhomebuilding.com/QandA/storefood/pantry.htm

(Read down a little ways and he explains how he built his cool pantry on his earthbag house.)

"We have a large, naturally cool pantry just off from our kitchen, that remains dry all year round. You are right that a root cellar tends to be too humid for storing many foods. It depends on where you are located and the climate there, exactly how to design such a pantry, but in most places in the U.S. you can dig into the ground to attain very stable temperatures that are well below average highs and also well above the average lows. Our pantry (at 8,000' in Colorado) stays between 38 degrees F. and 65 degrees F. It is dug about 5' down into the ground, and then more earth is bermed up over it. There are fresh air inlet and outlet vents that remain open year round. This earthbag structure was sealed with plastic on the outside before being back-filled with soil, so that moisture does not enter the space and it stays quite dry."

[KillTheMessenger]

How much energy a fridge needs is mainly a matter of how efficient the insulation is. And that is only a function of the law. We can make insulation that would allow us to cool down the fridge with one tenth of the energy the average model uses right now. That manufacturers don't is nothing more than an expression that they are not required to.

[jsgaetano]

I buy my food every day. So yes, I can live without a refrigerator.

[niko73]

Let's not forget that refrigerators decrease food waste. I lived without a fridge for several years in Africa. You need to be carefuly what you cook, because if you can't it the next day, it gets wasted. Cooking large meals in America, then freezing your left-overs saves energy and eliminates food waste.

[Semaj51]

"A cooler with frozen bottles of water can keep food cold" -- The article doesn't exactly explain where the frozen bottles comes from.

[TimmySlagle]

The ice man will bring them, in a horse drawn wagon.

[MsIrisMG]

Simply click the green link that says "New York Times" that's at the beginning of this article, and you will go to the real article that explains where the frozen bottles come from.

[TimmySlagle]

Let's live without REFRIGERATORS!

Great idea! And then we can get rid of hot water, and then arconditioning, then central heat, and electric lights, and cars!

Think how much happier the Earth will be, when we've returned to the stone age!

[jsgaetano]

Typical Republifundie, always jumping to absurd conclusions nobody stated.

But hey, keep beating that strawman. It's the only thing you guys have left these days.

[richardmcnoggin]

You forgot about toilet paper.... one square sheet please....