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Efficient fridges these days use 90-125 kWh/y, so that's still terrible. But as I understand it, that's par for the course for fridges in the US. https://www.m

by morsch 5y ago

Efficient fridges these days use 90-125 kWh/y, so that's still terrible. But as I understand it, that's par for the course for fridges in the US. https://www.mediamarkt.de/de/product/_siemens-kg39e8xba-2710128.html https://www.mediamarkt.de/de/product/_siemens-kg39e8xba-2710... https://www.mediamarkt.de/de/product/_samsung-rl-38-a776asr-eg-2735169.html https://www.mediamarkt.de/de/product/_samsung-rl-38-a776asr-...

userbinator 5y ago
I can't read German and the page requires JS, but I could see the models in the URLs so I looked those up, and those are both not cheap[1] and don't seem to be available in the US. I'm not sure if the differences in numbers are due to different testing methods either --- if you leave the doors open on those I bet they'll also use a lot more than 90-125kWh/y, compared to basically never opening them at all and seeing what the energy use eventually settles down to (insulation losses only). I'm averaging around 280kWh/y on mine when it's actually in active use, where the door gets opened a few times a day and it's used to cool things from room temperature. [1] From what I could find, the Samsung RL38A776ASR costs over £1200, or a little over $1600 US. That's enough to pay for 40 years of electricity on mine.
- morsch 5y ago
  Those were just the first two I could find in efficiency categories A and B. Here's one for 317 EUR that's rated at 118 kWh/a (with a C efficiency label). The rating is supposed to reflect typical usage. https://www.heise.de/preisvergleich/amica-kgc-384-110-e-a2121279.html?hloc=de&v=e https://www.heise.de/preisvergleich/amica-kgc-384-110-e-a212...
gruez 5y ago
>Efficient fridges those look like... really small fridges? The top selling fridge on bestbuy.com is this: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lg-20-2-cu-ft-top-freezer-refrigerator-stainless-steel/6360748.p?skuId=6360748 https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lg-20-2-cu-ft-top-freezer-refri..., which has 572L (20.2cf) in capacity and is 50% bigger than the samsung fridge you linked. It costs much less: $800 USD vs $1357 USD for the samsung fridge (after factoring in currency conversion and VAT). It does seem to be much more efficient (60% less energy after normalizing for storage capacity), but it's doubtful that you'll ever break even on the purchase price disparity.
- morsch 5y ago
  Then I suggest buying fridges that are smaller in addition to being more efficient... SCNR. The average US household is larger (2.5) but not that much larger than the average German (2.0). I'd guess a typical fridge is more like 300l (but I don't actually know).

by morsch 5y ago

userbinator 5y ago

I can't read German and the page requires JS, but I could see the models in the URLs so I looked those up, and those are both not cheap[1] and don't seem to be available in the US. I'm not sure if the differences in numbers are due to different testing methods either --- if you leave the doors open on those I bet they'll also use a lot more than 90-125kWh/y, compared to basically never opening them at all and seeing what the energy use eventually settles down to (insulation losses only). I'm averaging around 280kWh/y on mine when it's actually in active use, where the door gets opened a few times a day and it's used to cool things from room temperature. [1] From what I could find, the Samsung RL38A776ASR costs over £1200, or a little over $1600 US. That's enough to pay for 40 years of electricity on mine.

morsch 5y ago
Those were just the first two I could find in efficiency categories A and B. Here's one for 317 EUR that's rated at 118 kWh/a (with a C efficiency label). The rating is supposed to reflect typical usage. https://www.heise.de/preisvergleich/amica-kgc-384-110-e-a2121279.html?hloc=de&v=e https://www.heise.de/preisvergleich/amica-kgc-384-110-e-a212...

gruez 5y ago

>Efficient fridges those look like... really small fridges? The top selling fridge on bestbuy.com is this: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lg-20-2-cu-ft-top-freezer-refrigerator-stainless-steel/6360748.p?skuId=6360748 https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lg-20-2-cu-ft-top-freezer-refri..., which has 572L (20.2cf) in capacity and is 50% bigger than the samsung fridge you linked. It costs much less: $800 USD vs $1357 USD for the samsung fridge (after factoring in currency conversion and VAT). It does seem to be much more efficient (60% less energy after normalizing for storage capacity), but it's doubtful that you'll ever break even on the purchase price disparity.

morsch 5y ago
Then I suggest buying fridges that are smaller in addition to being more efficient... SCNR. The average US household is larger (2.5) but not that much larger than the average German (2.0). I'd guess a typical fridge is more like 300l (but I don't actually know).