I was lamenting in a post about compact florescent bulbs how I didn’t know where else we could significantly cut electricity consumption. Then I saw this post from Greenpa. Turns out I wasn’t thinking hard enough.
Our A-rated fridge freezer uses over a kWh a day – about 15% of our total electricity consumption. And there are plenty of low-tech solutions to refrigeration in the area. Ciauscolo is the tastiest one. Inverting an unglazed terra cotta pot in a dish of water is also good.
I’ve just taken a look and we’re using our fridge to store mayonnaise, milk, yoghurt, veggies, white wine, and beer. We could definitely lose the mayo. Milk and yoghurt will be tricky but veggies would be easy enough – particularly as the garden takes off. And we could stick to red…
Here’s an intermediate step: only run the fridge in the summer. The rest of the year you can get by with an old fridge buried in the ground (a lá John Seymour) or storing perishables in a cool, unheated porch or root cellar. But having given it some thought, after a 40° day I don’t think I can do without the cold beer.
How far do you want to go?
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22 May, 2007 at 9:53
Jason Hawkes
Build yourself a Rammed Earth larder on the north face of the house, with a slit vent at high and low level. Probably means making a big hole in your big wall.
……probably best to forget it.
Maybe one of these Savaplug power regulating plugs would do the trick
22 May, 2007 at 10:56
Casey
I like the idea of burying a chest freezer in the ground in a shady spot and using that for storage through most months. Having said that, I’m not sure I want to make the leap to life without refrigeration. I’m very happy that there are people out there making the choice, but I’d rather move towards an energy generation regime where we’re living within our energy means and still have enough for people to have efficient fridges if they want them (and most people do).