OT: The cold elephant in the room...

[dustyrider]

I do think water is going to be the next currency! When I was in Arizona watching the Colorado get diverted in canals so folks can water their lawns, and drive their golf carts to the course, I figured I would just make sure to enjoy life as we know it while I can.

[ryker]

You can do experiments on your own fridge to check power demand after the door opens. Matthias Wandel demonstrates this on YouTube.

[makoti]

Originally Posted by dustyrider

I think home construction and utilities are of far greater concern. You can live without AC, but people have multiple units hanging out of their windows so they don’t have to be hot! Never mind sitting cars idling to stay cool/warm… Refrigerators keep your food fresh and who wants to live in a world with warm beer?

Spoken like a person who's never lived in the Southeast

[dustyrider]

Originally Posted by makoti

Spoken like a person who's never lived in the Southeast

I lived in casa grande and picacho Arizona for more than a year. And a lot of that time I lived off the back of a DR650! I live in grand junction Colorado currently it’s almost 100f. I am currently enjoying AC in my home, but didn’t have it for the last two summers(remodel). Yes it sucks to live without AC, but life can go on without AC. Where as un-refrigerated food…

[Ozz]

Originally Posted by Rada

Wouldn't more trips to the grocery kinda defeat this solution?

depends how you get there, and if combining with other trips.

We used to have a pretty good grocery store about 6-8 blocks away...seldom kept any produce in the fridge, and just walked to the store to pick up what we needed for dinner. The grocery store was our fridge.

[bicycletricycle]

I think air conditioning is a much muncher huger user of electrical pixies. Come on people just sit in your house sweaty .

[reuben]

Originally Posted by William

How many times have you, or someone in your family opened the door to only stare in the fridge wondering what there is to eat in there?

Doesn't happen. I just grab a beer.

Having said that, I live in the midatlantic region of the U.S., where summers are hot and humid. Winters are warmer than they used to be.

I have neither geothermal nor solar. Standard (for this area) heat pump and hot water heater. My house is about 1500 square feet, one occupant.

My electric bill maxes out in the winter at about 1200 kWh for one month, with an average monthly winter usage of around 1,000 kWh. Summer is better, when my average monthly usage is around 500 kWh.

The electric company thinks I'm great, as I'm well below comparable houses, even during winter when I get closer to the average.

[Monsieur Toast]

Originally Posted by William

So, let’s talk about the ...

largest waste of human consumed energy on the planet.

Why stop at fridge usage, which is probably nil% of our impact on the planet, when you can take it a step further by sipping on a beer and pondering our very own existence. Considering our current relationship with the planet – abusive at best – how does one justify living?

I watched my dad peel a beer label off of an aluminum can the other night (to make it easier for them to recycle, LoL), before proceeding to drink water out of a pre-packaged plastic bottle. Like, what is this theater we all live in?

Heavy stuff, friends. Imma have another cold beer.

[dustyrider]

Originally Posted by Monsieur Toast

Why stop at fridge usage, which is probably nil% of our impact on the planet, when you can take it a step further by sipping on a beer and pondering our very own existence. Considering our current relationship with the planet – abusive at best – how does one justify living?

I watched my dad peel a beer label off of an aluminum can the other night (to make it easier for them to recycle, LoL), before proceeding to drink water out of a pre-packaged plastic bottle. Like, what is this theater we all live in?

Heavy stuff, friends. Imma have another cold beer.

[rain dogs]

A refrigerator is air conditioning for fruits and veggies in about 16-20 cubic feet.

Air conditioning is a refrigerator for humans in tens of thousands of cubic feet.

[robt57]

Sure glad we live so close to the hydo power and snow melts here...

[steelbikerider]

Currently 96, feels like 102 with a 70' dew point and 46% humidity(lowest all day). I'm not giving up my AC.

[thwart]

No need to give up air-conditioning, at least at this point.

But... setting it to 78° makes a significant difference. For me at least, just having the humidity taken out of the air makes a huge difference in comfort.

Just like heating your house to 68° rather than 72°.

PS Whatever happened to swamp coolers... ? Great for the Southwest where the humidity is lower. And more energy efficient than air conditioning.

[s4life]

I am not sure it's that bad compared to A/C, the energy consumption for the latter should be 2 or 3 orders of magnitude greater than the former.

[BobbyJones]

I wouldn’t worry about it.

Much like the way we look back on ancient Mayan, Roman and Egyptian civilizations, no one will look at ours and say:

“It was the refrigerators”