ENERGY STAR’s website states that older refrigerators, like those use as a second one located in the basement or garage, use more than twice the amount of electricity to run than new ENERGY STAR rated models do. Their cost calculator estimates my fridge (about 20 cubic feet and 20 years old) uses $150 each year!
Taking a look at the actual usage, by plugging it into a Watts Up? PRO power analyzer showed this was not quite the case. The fridge used a wide range of power, from as high as 750 watts after loading it from a shopping trip to as low as 5 watts to maintain an already cooled fridge. The average electricity usage was about 100 watts. After monitoring the usage for a week my model only used 17.5 kwh, and with electricity costing an average of $0.115 per kwh that comes out to $2.01. Using this as a baseline, my model comes in a just over $104 each year. This means it would take 8-10 years for a new ENERGY STAR refrigerator to pay for itself with the energy savings.
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