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There are a few tricks you can use to reduce the energy consumption of your refrigerator. Even older appliances can consume less electricity.
Refrigerators – how to reduce energy consumption
There are a few effective strategies for significantly reducing the energy consumption of your refrigerator – without much effort.
- Positioning your refrigerator: Saving energy starts with the positioning of your appliance. Place your refrigerator as far away as possible from heat sources such as radiators, stoves, or ovens. Direct sunlight is also unfavorable. If there is a pantry next to the kitchen, this is usually the best place for the refrigerator.
- Back wall: To allow air to circulate freely through the cooling grille, keep a distance of about eight centimeters between the wall and the refrigerator. To ensure good air circulation, it is important to regularly remove dust and dirt from the cooling grille.
- Optimal temperature: A temperature between six and eight degrees Celsius is perfectly adequate. Lowering the temperature further will result in significantly higher electricity costs. The optimal temperature for the freezer compartment is around -18 degrees Celsius.
- Defrosting: If your refrigerator has a freezer compartment and is a bit older, it probably does not have an automatic defrost function. Icy refrigerators consume significantly more energy. It is therefore important to defrost the refrigerator.
- Door seal: The door seal is a factor in the refrigerator’s energy consumption that should not be underestimated. Therefore, when cleaning, check whether it is porous or damaged. If necessary, replace the door seal. This may take a little effort, but it is worth it in terms of energy efficiency.
- Organization: Every time you open the refrigerator door, warm air flows in. So organize the food in your refrigerator so that you don’t have to search for it for a long time.
- Tip: Never put warm or hot food in the refrigerator. This heats up the entire refrigerator and cooling it down again costs a lot of unnecessary energy.
Energy-efficient new refrigerator – what to look for
When buying a new appliance, you can save a lot of energy in the long term if you consider a few points when choosing a refrigerator:
- Energy efficiency class: Every consumer is probably familiar with the large labels bearing the EU energy label by now. It is certainly worth taking a look at them, but they are by no means the only criterion for finding the optimal appliance for you.
- Refrigerator size: When it comes to the size of the refrigerator, it is important to consider in advance exactly how much space you need. Apart from the fact that a larger appliance consumes more energy anyway, a half-full refrigerator also requires more electricity to cool down. Food also stores cold, so a full refrigerator requires less energy.
- Additional functions: The new generation of refrigerators offer all kinds of functions that usually consume additional energy. It is therefore worth thinking carefully about what you will really use and what you won’t.
