{"id":18289,"date":"2018-01-16T16:26:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-16T05:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=18289"},"modified":"2025-12-18T16:15:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T06:45:51","slug":"buy-an-energy-efficient-fridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/buy-an-energy-efficient-fridge\/","title":{"rendered":"Want Hundreds Of Dollars Worth Of Cool Cash?\u00a0 Buy An Energy Efficient Fridge"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"fridge\"

Ronald’s fridge yesterday.<\/p><\/div>\n

Disaster has struck the Brakels household! And I’m not talking about a minor disaster like a son or daughter breaking a leg.<\/p>\n

Unlike horses, humans can survive a broken leg or two, which is odd when you think about it since horses have twice as many legs1<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n

The serious disaster that occurred is the amount of grid electricity my home\/shed uses has soared by one-third. It has gone from an average of 4.1 kilowatt-hours a day to 5.5.\u00a0 As soon as I saw the atrocity bill I knew exactly who to blame — my refrigerator!\u00a0 That metal bastard betrayed both me and the planet!<\/p>\n

I first realized I had a problem at the start of December when the milk started going off.\u00a0 I noticed the fridge was running continuously and slowly getting louder and louder.\u00a0 I should have done something about it right there and then, but, thanks to my almost superhuman powers of disorganization, I did nothing. Over Christmas, I had to tape the refrigerator compartment shut and use the freezer section as a fridge, because that’s all it was capable of doing.\u00a0 Thank God I don’t have enough friends to throw a Christmas party.<\/p>\n

I kept hoping it would somehow get better by itself, but by the time the New Year arrived it was clear my fridge was a useless piece of crap that would never do a worthwhile job, spending its remaining time failing and making noise.\u00a0 So I renamed it President Trump and went shopping.\u00a0 And by shopping, I of course mean started making spreadsheets.\u00a0 I haven’t been divorced three times because I do things the easy way.<\/p>\n

As I investigated, I discovered energy efficiency is an extremely important consideration and in South Australia some people could spend over $500 more to buy a refrigerator that saves 100 kilowatt-hours per year and still come out ahead2<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n

Discount rates are also a consideration.\u00a0 They are a measure of how much people prefer to receive money now rather than in the future.\u00a0 People with a high discount rate may prefer to buy a cheaper refrigerator rather than an energy efficient one.<\/p>\n

Those who want to keep at least one out of two icecaps intact can also decide to spend extra money to buy energy efficient appliances for the good of the planet, but this article is only going to look at things from the point of view of your wallet. I’ll help you determine what is likely to be the most cost-effective option and you can then decide for yourself if you wish to be altruistic and pay a little extra to destroy the world less.<\/p>\n

While this cool article is all about refrigerators, the same techniques can be used on other appliances to find out which are the most cost-effective.<\/p>\n

Don’t Look At The Stars — Look At The Numbers<\/h2>\n

Star energy rating labels on appliances seem pretty straight forward.\u00a0 You pick the one with the most stars and that will be the one that saves the most energy — or at least that’s how you’d think they’d work, but they don’t.\u00a0 The number of stars on a label can only be used to compare products of similar size and design.\u00a0 A large fridge with 4.5 stars can easily use more electricity than a smaller fridge with 3 stars.<\/p>\n

Fortunately energy ratings include the number of kilowatt-hours typically used per year and this allows the energy consumption of different sizes and types of appliances to be compared.\u00a0 This is less convenient than a simple visual comparison, but the fault is not in our stars, rather in ourselves for being too lazy to do maths.<\/p>\n

\"Energy<\/p>\n

Climate Counts<\/h2>\n

The electricity consumption figures on energy rating labels are based on typical household use.\u00a0 Buying a refrigerator and then putting it in an unshaded tin shack in Darwin is not typical3<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n

It is likely in cooler parts of the country refrigerators will use less electricity than indicated on energy rating labels, while in places such as Townsville and Darwin I’d expect them to use considerably more.<\/p>\n

Efficient Fridges Can Reduce Air Conditioner Electricity Use<\/h2>\n

All the electricity consumed by a refrigerator eventually ends up as waste heat.\u00a0 If your refrigerator uses 2 kilowatt-hours a day in summer while you are using air conditioning<\/a>, then it may increase the electricity consumption of an efficient air conditioner by around half a kilowatt-hour a day.\u00a0 The amount would depend on how you cool the room the refrigerator is located in, but an efficient refrigerator can definitely reduce your air conditioning electricity consumption4<\/a><\/sup>.<\/p>\n

In winter you might think waste heat from a refrigerator would be useful, but it is much more efficient to use an air conditioner for heating than run an inefficient fridge, so even in winter wastrel fridges won’t save you money.<\/p>\n

Cost Of Electricity<\/h2>\n

The more you pay for electricity the more you’ll save from buying an energy efficient appliance.\u00a0 Using SolarQuotes’ electricity plan comparison tool<\/a> I looked up the typical price paid per kilowatt-hour for grid electricity in capital cities.\u00a0 The following figures include GST and any discounts:<\/p>\n