The Top Energy Efficient Freezers 2008
When researching energy efficient appliances, we often turn to the recommendations of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE). The ACEEE continues to publish helpful information about all sorts of appliances, including freezers. The ninth edition of their Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings, published in fall 2007, contains helpful information about selecting a freezer.
The most efficient type of freezer is the chest freezer. This is because a chest freezer opens from the top, and cold air (which is heavier than warm air) does escape easily from a chest freezer. The weight of the lid also helps to seal chest freezers tightly. Chest freezers are 10% to 25% more efficient than upright freezers.
One useful thing to know about U.S. freezers is they're almost all manufactured by three companies: Frigidaire (owned by Electrolux), W.C. Wood (based in Canada) and Haier (based in China). Frigidaire makes freezers under the Frigidaire and Gibson names, and makes some freezers for Kenmore and GE. W.C. Wood makes freezers for Amana, Magic Chef, some units for Maytag, Danby and Whirlpool. Haier makes freezers for GE, Kenmore, some units for Maytag and Amana in addition to selling some models under its own name.
So many times customer are paying a premium for a differently branded freezer. For example, Frigidaire freezers sometimes cost more than GE freezers and Maytag freezers may fetch a premium over a W.C. Wood freezer.
Recently, the US Department of Energy launched the Recycle My Old Fridge campaign that encourages Americans to recycle their old, inefficient refrigerators. The web site includes a calculator so users can determine how much energy their current refrigerator consumes, what they can save by replacing it with a new Energy Star model, and where they can take the old fridge to be recycled locally.
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