Boomer23
Well-known member
Okay, a provocative thread title that got your attention.
Here's the real scoop. I recently replaced my 20 year old 21 cuft refrigerator/freezer with a new, Energy Star 25 cuft unit and I'm saving about 4 kWh per day according to my daily usage records so far this month! That's a savings of over 20% of my previous average daily usage of about 19.5 kWh for the whole house. That's like adding four additional PV panels to my 24 panel array. It is also about 1500 kWh per year saved, enough to drive my future Leaf 5,250 miles (at 3.5 miles per kWh). At a cost of $1500 for the fridge and a 20 year useful life, that's about 1.4 cents a mile. Compare that to perhaps $4,000 for four additional solar panels.
I'm writing this because I thought that I had done a pretty good job of reducing my electrical energy usage over the past few years. I had reduced my annual average daily usage from about 28 kWh in 2005 to between 19 and 20 kWh recently. But my neighbor's usage was maybe 75% of mine, albeit with a smaller home, and maybe fewer devices plugged in. I had no idea how much energy my old fridge was using.
I was thinking about trying to power my Leaf on solar power from my PV array as much as possible. It is tempting to some of us to think about adding more PV panels. I noticed that the Cash for Appliances stimulus program is still funded here in California, with millions of dollars still available. So I looked into the refrigerators that qualify for the $200 rebate, plus $100 from my local utility.
The fridge I found is a Tier 2 Energy Star unit from Samsung, rated at about 550 kWh usage per year. I had no idea how much my old fridge was using, and the closest estimate I could find online was about 1200 kWh per year. So I expected a savings of about 2 kWh per day, which is pretty good. I'm amazed and pleased to find that the savings is about double that. Plus we got a really cool new fridge with more storage space and features that the old one never had.
I thought that some if you who are trying to reduce your own electrical usage and haven't looked closely at your refrigerator might find this interesting.
Here's the real scoop. I recently replaced my 20 year old 21 cuft refrigerator/freezer with a new, Energy Star 25 cuft unit and I'm saving about 4 kWh per day according to my daily usage records so far this month! That's a savings of over 20% of my previous average daily usage of about 19.5 kWh for the whole house. That's like adding four additional PV panels to my 24 panel array. It is also about 1500 kWh per year saved, enough to drive my future Leaf 5,250 miles (at 3.5 miles per kWh). At a cost of $1500 for the fridge and a 20 year useful life, that's about 1.4 cents a mile. Compare that to perhaps $4,000 for four additional solar panels.
I'm writing this because I thought that I had done a pretty good job of reducing my electrical energy usage over the past few years. I had reduced my annual average daily usage from about 28 kWh in 2005 to between 19 and 20 kWh recently. But my neighbor's usage was maybe 75% of mine, albeit with a smaller home, and maybe fewer devices plugged in. I had no idea how much energy my old fridge was using.
I was thinking about trying to power my Leaf on solar power from my PV array as much as possible. It is tempting to some of us to think about adding more PV panels. I noticed that the Cash for Appliances stimulus program is still funded here in California, with millions of dollars still available. So I looked into the refrigerators that qualify for the $200 rebate, plus $100 from my local utility.
The fridge I found is a Tier 2 Energy Star unit from Samsung, rated at about 550 kWh usage per year. I had no idea how much my old fridge was using, and the closest estimate I could find online was about 1200 kWh per year. So I expected a savings of about 2 kWh per day, which is pretty good. I'm amazed and pleased to find that the savings is about double that. Plus we got a really cool new fridge with more storage space and features that the old one never had.
I thought that some if you who are trying to reduce your own electrical usage and haven't looked closely at your refrigerator might find this interesting.
