post off: could you live without a fridge?
There’s a new and somewhat contested trend among the environmentally conscious: unplugging the refrigerator for good to reduce energy consumption. Well, I have some experience with this one: I once lived without a refrigerator for an entire year. My reasons weren’t quite so lofty — I had an illegal cat, and when my fridge went on the fritz, rather than figure out how to have the landlord fix it without discovering my kitty, I simply put it off. And put it off. For an entire year! And now I come to find that these new refrigerator shunners are using the same methods I used as a procrastinating twentysomething — storing soda on the windowsill when it’s cold out, keeping a cooler of ice handy, and not buying more than they can consume in an evening. (I probably ate out a lot, too.) So what do you think — are they onto something? Could you or would you unplug your fridge? –Mary T.
Image via the New York Times.
Back before we had kids and lived within walking distance of two small markets, yes, I could have tried this and seen how it went.
Now that I have to drive to get to a supermarket and have kids… not a chance.
My vacuum lost suction over the weekend, it is still in pieces in my kitchen. So we had a debate about what we could live without. After the toilet, the vacuum has to be priority 2, then the fridge. I need my milk (that’s probably controversial enough).
I don’t know what I would do without my 15 open jars of exotic mustard. So, no.
oh i just read the article and see she has the same problem with milk. I love the idea of a milkman. People are surprised when I tell them about the glass bottles of milk with the metal closure over the foil or wax top we had when i was little, because I’m 30. Did anyone else have milk service then or now?
There’s a reason the fridge was invented! No way would I try to live without it. However, I don’t think that the gigantic sub-zero models are necessary. In fact, my husband has a theory about the size of people being similar to the size of their refrigerators. Have you ever noticed that it’s kinda true?
I went without one for a year when I was living in a basement apartment. Didn’t have a stove either. I survived, but was thrilled when I moved to a place with a fridge and stove. Makes life alot easier, and alot less expensive, especially when you aren’t force to eat out all the time.
However being single, much of my food ends up spoiling in the fridge before I can eat it anyway
As far as enviromental impact, the more I eat out, the more waste I generate. You have to think about all the takeout containers and individually packaged goods that would likely increase when you ditch the fridge. You can never buy bulk of goods that need refrigeration, which means more packaging. Not to mention fuel used for takeout and delivery. The impact of that probably outweighs energy consumption from the fridge.
Recently I read a blog by a young American woman who married a German citizen and now lives in Berlin. She said that most Germans have small, dorm-size refrigerators. She and her husband also have a freezer that is about the same size.
I lived for a year in the backwoods of Idaho. We had phone but no electricity or running water. We used a BIG (150 qt.) cooler, and bought block ice twice a week. It is doable, but requires much thoughfulness about food usage and handling. I’d live without a fridge, but living without running water is horrible.
I would if I could go the farmer’s market every day! Sadly, that’s not an option yet, so neither is living without a fridge for me. Maybe if I can get a garden up and running….
i lived without one for about 2 years when i was at college. i was crazy frugal and did not want to waste electricity. I’m a vegetarian so i was happy living on fresh veggies and dried beans.
Well, I’m not a nyt subscriber, so I can’t read the original article, but like several of the commenters, I question whether this is actually a net green savings.
Of course, it could be – if combined with drinking water as a beverage and limiting meat.
But if you’re replacing milk with soda, and storing perishables with driving to the grocer more often or eating out a lot, I’m not so sure if you’re ahead any more.
I would assume that an icebox is more efficient, but again, I don’t really know. The energy to freeze and transport the ice had to come from somewhere.
No, I could never live without a refrigerator. I am a homebody and hardly eat out much, so it just wouldn’t work. If I lived in walking distance to a grocery or cafes, then that might be different.
I won’t be going without one until they make it illegal to own one.
Having read the article and said, rather firmly, that I would not enjoy living without a fridge (things that make it non-negotiable: cooking lunches for the week, milk products, buying meat in bulk and having it in the freezer, summer.), I now find myself with a non-functional fridge and a landlord who promises to be unresponsive.
Oh the irony.
Living without a fridge in the city doesn’t sound very eco-friendly to me.
I imagine that a lot of food would go bad and that you’d end up eating out a lot, which as other commentators have pointed out can get pretty wasteful.
If you’re concerned about energy usage, try to buy the most efficient, well-insulated fridge you can find.
The Energy Star website could be a good place to start looking – http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=refrig.search_refrigerators
The good news is that technology is getting more energy-efficient in lots of different areas. I just installed a new low-mercury Sylvania CFL bulb that casts a warm light, gives as much illumination as a 100-watt incandescent and uses only 23 watts.
If we all make choices to buy the most efficient products on the market, the entire market will shift toward making more efficient items. As consumers, we have the power to make a difference!
- Aaron Dalton, Editor, 1GreenProduct.com
No way, I need at least some kind of refrigeration, even if it’s a dinky dorm model. That said, I probably could do without a freezer in a pinch.
This is asenine. The amount of energy used to keep a fridge cool is nothing compared to the energy wasted of having to go the the store every day.