Turning an Energy Hog Into Bacon

December 04, 2008

One of the biggest offenders on an electric bill is the refrigerator, which can cost $150 annually to power if it's a clunky old one from the 1970s. That inefficiency adds up, unnecessarily stressing the grid. In the UK, the giant utility Npower and clean tech firm RLtec are launching a "smart fridge" trial to tackle this chilly problem.

The trial will start next year with 300 fridges equipped with dynamic demand technology that adjusts in real time to changing grid conditions without affecting performance. Before the end of next year, the program will expand to include 3,000 fridges.

Npower and RLtec just got the green light yesterday after an Imperial College study showed that the technology has the potential to save the country $328 million on energy costs, not including the $1.1 billion that goes to balancing the country's grid annually. Ironically, dynamic demand was invented by American engineer Fred Schweppe in the late 1970s. Seeing as we're in a financial pickle stateside, it'd be cool to see widespread dynamic demand here. Heck, we're already upgrading our TVs.

Images: Day for night, the fridge version. Credit: Indrajit Samarajiva.