On a fateful day during the summer of '97 the Skyhouse refrigerator was killed in a tragic defrosting accident. It was an old fridge and was past its prime, sucking electricity and leaking cold air through its crusty gasket. Some said maybe it was a mercy killing.
Luckily the Rabbits saw only opportunity in the demise of this old fridge. Now we had the excuse we needed to take a big step toward energy independence. It was time to buy a Sun Frost.
Sun Frost is a small company that makes super efficient refrigerators and freezers including some designed specifically to run on alternative energy. The Arcata, CA based firm is famous for its "radical" departures from mainstream refrigerator technology. The fridges are ultra-insulated with an efficient compressor and heating coils mounted on top instead of the compressor on bottom and coils on back (remember, heat rises). We took the time to look at some other super efficient refrigerators and freezers but decided that the Sun Frost RF-12 combination fridge/freezer unit was for us.
Now we have our new fridge running off a couple of solar panels and a small battery bank. It's a small, simple alternative energy system and we are learning a lot about photovoltaics and batteries. It's good practice for when we have all our houses completely off the grid on our new land (we are currently in a rented house). Plus, it has cut our electricity bill, not surprising since a refrigerator can be the single largest user of electricity in an energy-efficient home. Our RF-12 uses just over 15% of the electricity consumed by a full-size, conventional side-by-side fridge and freezer.
We have also learned to live with a much smaller refrigerator and we are actually happier with it. Our old fridge was probably 14-16 cubic feet (it is now used as a mouseproof storage space and a place for magnets since our Sun Frost does not have a magnetic door). While waiting for our new fridge the six of us lived out of a four cubic foot fridge from our camper for a few months. The garden stored our fresh produce for us so the fridge was mostly for leftovers and condiments (like our homemade ketchup) We took care not to create too much leftovers and when we did we used them quickly. We thought "Maybe we don't need a fridge at all?" and some day at DR I'm sure some houses won't. But now we have our 12 cubic foot Sun Frost and sometimes it seems big; things can even get lost in the back.
Unfortunately, super-efficient fridges don't come cheap. Our Sun Frost cost us almost $2000 including shipping. But if you include the cost of the solar panels and the batteries you'll find that a normal fridge will cost more if you want to run it on alternative energy. Of course part of the high price is that Sun Frosts are essentially hand made to order and aren't sold in high enough quantities to have some of the efficiencies of scale of a larger manufacturer.
So if you have an old fridge you are thinking of getting rid of, consider the possibility of a Sun Frost or other super efficient fridge. It can make any house a lot more eco. Of course you don't need to wait until you've killed your fridge to make the move, but if you need a fridge put out of its misery you know who to call.
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