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Posted by Bryce on June 26, 2008, 9:57 am
trader4@optonline.net wrote:
> A couple months ago there was a lengthy discussion here about how much
> energy a new refrigerator uses versus an old one. It started with
> the claim made by the EPA that a new energy star refrigerator uses
> half the electricity of a 15 year old one. I just replaced my 24
> year old Frigidaire 24 cft side by side with a virtually identical
> Kitchenaid energy star refrigerator. I did some testing using a
> Kilowatt meter before and after and thought I would share the results.
>
> Before doing anything, I went to the Energy Star website where they
> have a calculator to estimate how much energy you will save. The
> calculator lets you put in your existing fridge make and model number
> and cost of electricity, then it tells you the difference in estimated
> energy usage. For my case, with electricity at 16 cents a kwh, this
> is what it came up with:
>
>
> Yearly electricity used:
>
> 24 year old Frigidaier $327
>
> New Energy Star $91
>
> Savings $236/yr
>
> And then the calculator goes on to say that in five years, that would
> pay for a new $1180 refrigerator. That sounded too good to be
> true. So, I wanted a new refrigerator anyway, but decided to take
> some actual measurements for a couple days of typical use before and
> after. I tried to keep the comparison as close as possible. Both
> were with units stabilized, ice makers off, no new items added, about
> same number of door openings, same temps, etc. Both were also side
> by side, with ice and water in the door. Old one was 24 cft, new one
> is 24.5 cft.
>
>
> Here's what I found:
>
> 24 year old Frigidaire $185
>
> New Energy Star $90
>
> Savings $95/yr
>
>
> Those results were more in line with what I would have expected. You
> now have a 12 year payback time, not the claimed 5 years. It would
> be interesting to know exactly how the EPA is calculating the energy
> usage of the old fridge. I would not be surprised that they are
> assuming leaking door seals, condenser coils covered in dirt, and who
> knows what else. In my case, the old one was still in relatively good
> shape.
>
> Bottom line, if you're considering a new fridge, energy star or even a
> new non-energy star is going to save you a reasonable amount of money
> each year compared to 24 year old unit and can help justify getting a
> new one. But don't believe the hype about it paying for itself in 5
> years.
I replaced my 30-year-old side-by-side with a KitchenAid top freezer of
the same size in 2001. I keep a spreadsheet of kwh/month that goes back
to 1989 and graphs both monthly consumption and trailing 12-month average.
My monthly average consumption had been about 320kwh/month for many years.
It dropped to 200kwh: annual saving of about 120 x 0.11 x 12 = $158.
I was amazed.
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