The average American refrigerator has a volume of 22 cubic feet?much larger than any other country. | Brett Bulthuis

My not-so-chill quest for a new refrigerator The mystery smell?a faint and not at all unpleasant yogurt-like scent?was the first sign that something was wrong in our kitchen. It took 24 hours to isolate the problem: a forgotten container of milk, turned gelatinous in its carton, in a busted refrigerator that was growing imperceptibly warmer by the day.
After a week of assessments, it was determined that our fridge had a broken compressor and replacing it with a used compressor wasn?t guaranteed to work. As a renter, all of my fridge decisions had heretofore been made for me, and this particular model had come with the house we bought several years ago. For the first time in my life, I was on the hunt for a new fridge?and determined to find the most energy-efficient model on the market. Fridges should last about 10 to 17 years, depending on the size and features, but there will come a point where keeping your inefficient fridge becomes an emissions liability. A fridge is the most energy-intensive appliance in the home; it stays on all the time. According to Energy Star, a fridge purchased in 2008 and used for about 10 years (close to the lifespan of my broken fridge) uses about twice the energy per year as one purchased today.
Unlike with many other major purchases, there?s no good sustainability argument for buying a fridge used. Even when factoring ...