Retire extra Refrigerator/Freezer
An extra refrigerator or freezer can cost you up to an extra $250 per year! The older it is, the higher the cost. Do you really need that extra fridge?
Your Impact
Action Steps & Tips
Introduction
It might seem like a money-saving strategy to use an old refrigerator or freezer for storing extra food. However, it can actually cost much more in electricity bills than it saves in food costs or convenience.
If you can rearrange your cold and frozen food stash to fit into a single refrigerator, retiring an old fridge can make a big difference on your energy bill! Plus, getting rid of that additional fridge or freezer can make more room in your home or garage. Who doesn’t need that? This easy and free action will not only save you money, but can also lower your impact and reduce both carbon emissions and air pollution.
1Figure out your potential savings
Refrigerators and freezers have improved in energy efficiency by over 200% in the last 25 years. That’s a big difference! Big advancements in efficiency guidelines came in 1993 and again in 2000. How much you save from retiring your extra fridge depends on when your refrigerator was made. Retiring older models built before 1993 saves on average $250 or more a year. If your refrigerator was manufactured from 1993 to 2000, savings are $150 or more per year on average. If your fridge was built in 2001 or later, the savings are much smaller. The annual savings also might be a bit smaller for freezer only units. Answer the question above on the year your fridge or freezer was built to see how much you can save. Or for an even closer estimate, look up your specific refrigerator type.
2Clean out and consolidate
In many homes, an old refrigerator or freezer is used for just a few items or stores lots of food that is past its safe lifetime. Sometimes it is used only for special occasions, such as holiday dinners or parties when you need a bit of extra space. Take a look at what is in both of your current fridges and consider whether you can rearrange and downsize to just one.
Consolidate. Start off by cleaning out both and see what’s left. Can it be consolidated into one? If one would work most of the time, except for holidays or parties, consider whether you could do some extra cleaning before an event to make enough room temporarily. The other option, if you only use the extra fridge occasionally, is to clean it out and unplug it when not in use.
3Recycle your old fridge
Proper disposal. Refrigerators contain substances that can create severe environmental damage if not disposed of properly. These include ozone-depleting substances, greenhouse gases, mercury, and PCBs. In fact, some substances found in refrigerants are 10,000 times more powerful greenhouse gases than carbon dioxide. Federal law requires appliances with hazardous substances to be properly disposed or recycled.
Make the call. Call your local waste hauler or recycling center to arrange for a pickup or a drop-off at an authorized disposal center where it will be responsibly and safely disposed of. Learn more about appliance disposal.
Congrats! You just saved energy, money and reduced your impact! Now have fun figuring out what to do with the extra space...