Good Green News

Sun Frost’s RF16, a super-efficient refrigerator with a freezer on top, consumes a miserly 254 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. Info: www.sunfrost.com

As the average U.S. house size increases, refrigerators seem to be multiplying like rabbits.

 While it isn’t yet keeping me awake at night, I have to admit that I’m a tad alarmed by all the refrigerators popping up in American homes.

Convenience is king, and as the average house size continues to increase, refrigerators seem to be multiplying like rabbits to fill up all that space.

In luxury homes today, I often see several refrigerators in the kitchen: a large primary refrigerator, a smaller snack and beverage fridge for the kids, and maybe a wine cooler for the adults. If there’s a bar in the great room or living room, there’s likely a compact fridge underneath it. The master suite might have its own mini fridge holding milk for the morning cappuccino, or there might be a refrigerated drawer in the bathroom for medicine and cosmetics.

Peek in the garage or basement and you’re likely to find another full-size refrigerator or freezer.

And as the traditional patio outfitted with a simple barbecue grill has morphed into an extravagant outdoor kitchen, refrigerators have started to proliferate outside too.

At the risk of sounding like a Grinch out to deprive people of their frosty beverages, what are we thinking?

I don’t believe that people who have a multitude of refrigerators do so out of a malevolent wish to poison the air or melt the Arctic’s ice fields.

Most people, I suspect, just have not given much thought to the fact that these major appliances have a major impact on air quality, global warming and ultimately our ability to thrive on this planet.

Of course most people don’t have the money or inclination to fill their homes with refrigerators, but if you do, hear my plea: Refrigerate responsibly!

© Jennifer Roberts.
Originally published in Good Green News.