Study Urges to Get Rid Off 'Beer Fridges' to Curb Greenhouse Gas Emissions

A new study has suggested Canadian, North American and Australian homes to get rid of vintage secondary fridges, which add to increasing household greenhouse gas emissions, leading to global warming.

Also known as "beer fridges", these are additional fridges that are generally used to keep beer and other drinks cold on top of a household's primary fridge for food.

According to Denise Young, a researcher at the University of Alberta, Canada, one in three Canadian households has a second fridge, which are ageing, energy-guzzling models.

Researchers like Young suggest that getting rid of older models, in Canada at least, would have an impact on energy usage. The study analyzes industry data and the results of a national survey to look at the environmental effects of having beer fridges in Canada.

"People need to understand the impact of their lifestyles," says Joanna Yarrow, director of Beyond Green, a sustainable development consultancy in the UK. "Clearly the environmental implications of having a frivolous luxury like a beer fridge are not hitting home. This research helps inform people – let's hope it has an effect," he added.

The research also involved a survey that was commissioned by Natural Resources Canada. It suggests that 30% of households have two or more refrigerators. About 20% of secondary fridges are older models that are kept after the household buys a newer model as their primary refrigerator.

Having a second fridge for cooling drinks means more demand for electricity, and this demand is even worse when the second fridge is an older model.

The Canadian Appliance Manufacturers Association estimates that typical 1985 refrigerator models use 1060 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy per year, while a 1975 model uses 1580 kWh per year. In contrast, more recent and energy-efficient models can use as little as 380 kWh per year.

The survey shows that in 2003 about 65% of beer fridges were more than 10 years old. About 30% were at least twice that age. Using the survey's information on the distribution of beer fridges and the data on energy consumption, Young calculated that the 65% of beer fridges that are 10 years or older consume 1165.7 million kWh of energy each year – roughly equivalent to the annual consumption of 100,000 average US suburban homes.

"By abandoning beer fridges altogether, Canada's 11.5 million households could save 3500 million kWh each year," New Scientist quoted Young as saying.

A possible solution to disposing off old refrigerators is government-run "round-ups". A 2006 study showed that such programmes have been successful in the past, especially when they are boosted by information on how much money and energy can be saved by getting rid of the beer fridge.

But environmental effect of beer fridges depends on the source of electricity. "In Canada, there are major regional differences," notes Young. "In places where hydroelectric power is used, the greenhouse gas emissions are negligible. In places where coal or natural gas are used, the impacts can be substantial," he added.

Source-ANI
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