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Refrigerators are the energy hogs of your kitchen. Each refrigerator you own - and operate - consumes about 8 percent to 10 percent of your home’s energy. If your current refrigerator is over 10 years old you may want to consider purchasing a new Energy Star rated unit. And one other thing...don’t move the old refrigerator to the basement or garage, because you will just be wasting more money.

A new refrigerator with a top-mounted freezer that defrosts automatically will cost around $55 a year to operate. In contrast, a refrigerator from the early 1970’s costs over $160 a year to run. The most expensive new refrigerator will save you about $750 in energy costs over a 15-year period. How much electricity is your old refrigerator using a year? Here is a refrigerator savings calculator. Using this will give you a good idea of how much energy you can save. For example, in comparing a 1992 model with a 2007 Energy Star refrigerator, the results were $87 a year to run the old model versus $33 a year for the Energy Star model.

Here Are Some Hot Tips on Buying a Cool Fridge

When purchasing a new appliance, be sure and read the Energy Guide labels for each model. Refrigerators of the same size don’t necessarily use the same amount of electricity.

• Buy only what you need. Most features and gadgets on a refrigerator use electricity. They are all convenient and nice to have, but do you really need some of the features?
• The most energy efficient refrigerators are generally 16 to 20 cubic feet in size.
• Top and bottom freezer models use 10-25 percent less energy than side-by-side models. Plus, top freezers tend to have the most usable space.
• Automatic icemakers and through-the-door dispensers increase energy use by 14-20 percent and raise the purchase price up to $250.
• Automatic moisture controls are not the same thing an an anti-sweat heater which uses 5-10 percent more energy.

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