We're considering getting a compact refrigerator for our finished basement. How energy efficient are these small fridges?
A small refrigerator, say a model with a capacity of about 2 cubic feet, could be a good fit for a your basement or home office or a dorm room (most are bought for dorms). And the low price—some models cost as little as $70—might be appealing. But these Lilliputian appliances are surprisingly inefficient when it comes to electricity consumption. The most-efficient compact refrigerator we recently tested consumes about 280 kilowatt-hours per year, compared with roughly 390 kWh for an energy-efficient 18-cubic-foot top-freezer refrigerator.
That means the mini-fridge offers only about a tenth of the storage space but uses almost 72 percent of the energy the full-size model consumes. In other words, you're not getting a lot of storage bang for your fridge buck. For more on compact refrigerators, read our brand-new ratings-based buying guide.
Whenever you shop for a refrigerator or other appliance, refer to the yellow EnergyGuide label to find out how much electricity it's likely to use. And read "Refrigerator Capacity Claims Don't Add Up" to find out which regular-size models offer the most usable storage space.
I'm looking into a dorm refrigerator and agree with Consumer Repoirts that the small ones currently use alot of energy. My daughter's college has gone to an energy star policy for refrigerators which we agree with. Only problem is not many are manufactured. The school offers something from a vendor where the yearly fee is more than the cost of a reasonable refrigerator for a combo micro/ refrig - to me a stupid offer because most dorms have multiple micros in the main kitchen and floor kitchen's. You have clout - please convince these companies and the ones who sell their products to please go green - it's as simple as I can't buy a product that isn't. We don't have the luxury to buy what 's available now.
We bought a compact refrig about 3 years ago. Surprisingly, condenser is a simple short piece of tubing: no coils or fins to allow more efficient energy exchange with air; therefore, not very efficient. I think that these simple changes would be cheap and significantly boost efficiency.
Evidently, this industry won't change unless consumers or regulation demand it.
good for you - a small fridge or beverage fridge, I would want to stock it with extra "stuff". I have an extra and it comes in handy for parties (birthday cake, beverages) or for holiday dinners when you are fortunate enough to have some of the food prepared ahead of time.
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