Sustaining Future

Friday, April 10, 2009

Refrigerator: the worse white good in our homes

The current design of refrigerators in our homes is the worse possible. Every time we open the door, almost ALL the cold air in the box will flow out. Simple physics really. Cold air is denser than warm air. With the door occupying almost the whole height of the refrigerator, cold air just flow out, naturally. Once you close the door, the machine kicks in to cool the air inside again. No wonder refrigeration is typically the largest energy usage in our home.

Look at the cold chests in supermarkets. They can afford to have the cold chests top open (no top actually) simply because the cold air in the chest is kept within the chest.

Governments are banning the light bulbs in favour of compact florescence bulb. The energy saved is good, but compared with improving/changing the side door refrigerator to a top open, that would be small.

Someone should come out and design a user friendly top-open refrigerator!

Labels:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home