Green Options » fridge

Spring Cleaning: Tackling the Fridge

Becky Striepe — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 07:00:07 +0000

[Creative Commons photo by sarae]

Your dishwasher is spic and span, and it’s starting to make your cluttered refrigerator look a little bit…well…gross. Don’t despair! We’ve got you covered with some Earth-friendly fridge-cleaning tips. Not only does cleaning out the fridge keep things sanitary, you can do your part to make it more energy efficient!

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Australia to Use ‘Talking’ Fridges to Reduce Global Warming

Andrew Williams — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:31:40 +0000

Australian researchers have figured out a cool new way to tackle the threat of global warming, by setting up a network of ‘talking’ fridges.

But wait, the idea isn’t as crazy as it might sound. The fridges feature cutting-edge technology enabling them to communicate with each other via a network to share and store energy from renewable energy sources such as solar panels or wind turbines.

According to inventor, Sam West, “The fridges are designed to talk to each other, negotiating when it’s a good time to consume electricity and when it’s better not to.”

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College Student Invents Affordable Solar-Powered Fridge

Ariel Schwartz — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 05:23:46 +0000

A British college student has invented a new type of solar-powered fridge that can be built entirely from household materials. According to 21 year old Emily Cummins, the fridge works with the help of evaporation. The fridge stays at a comfortable 6° C without using any power, and can keep perishables cool for days.

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UK Giving Away “Intelligent Fridges”

Ariel Schwartz — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:31:24 +0000

Live in the UK? You may be the lucky recipient of a free “intelligent” refrigerator. 3,000 fridges that adapt power usage based on the demands of the electrical grid will be given away by the government next year. According to a report from the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change, the dynamic demand fridges could potentially save 2 million tons of carbon each year and £222m.

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Random Green Stuff: High Tech Should Go Low Tech

Juergen Horn — Sat, 05 May 2007 13:19:59 +0000

The evaporating clay fridge is clever, cheap and does no harm to nature. Why can't more technology these days follow its example?

This smart preservation device for foodstuffs was invented in 1995 by Nigerian engineer Mohammed Bah Abba. The Pot-in-pot cooler consists of a small earthenware pot nestling inside a larger one with wet sand filling the space in between. As the water in the wet sand evaporates, it extracts heat from contents of the inner pot thus cooling them. The pot cooler is one of many clever ideas shown at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York in its in "Design for the other 90%" exhibition opening 4 May 2007.

Link: More Social Responsible Design

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Random Good Stuff

Tip o’ the Day: Seal the Deal

Rebecca Carter — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 13:36:43 +0000

We can't keep from using energy completely, but it is important to make sure everything is running as efficiently as possible. Today what we're referring to is your refrigerator.

Always plugged in, it's one of those appliances that you can never shut off. That makes it even more important an item to make sure it is pulling as little electricity as possible.

In order to see if you are letting money flow right out the door of that refrigerator, you'll need to stick some money in that door. Close the fridge on a dollar bill. If the bill is held tight by the door, your seal is intact. If you can easily pull the money out, you need a tighter seal.

According to Money, fixing this can save you $15 a year. We say, the 15 bucks is great, but even better is not to throw all of that precious energy out the door.

Rebecca says: Do the test with a $100 bill and you'll feel like you're saving even more money. And yes, I did the test. And yes, our fridge passed with flying colors!

Money Magazine: Global Warming: What's in It for You