If you're like me, you've been scolded on numerous occations for searching through your fridge for extended periods.  Contrary to what your grandmother has told you, this has a relatively small impact on the energy usage of your fridge!  Now don't go leaving your fridge open 24/7 to prove me wrong, or you'll have warm milk and liquid ice cream!

If you truely want a green fridge, it needs to be green at the time of purchase.  Though size has a large effect on the amount of power your refrigerator will use, many other factors impact the overall efficiency of your refrigerator/freezer.  The thickness and quality of insulation, door seals, internal light bulbs, and most importantly, positioning and quality of your compressor have a tremendous effect on your utility bill.  Always look for the energy star logo, especially at the energy usage section of the energy star tag.  The fewer estimated kilowatts per year the unit uses, the less power it will consume over its lifetime.

That being said, here are some other tips you can use to save a few extra bucks over the year.

1.  Keep the thing full and organized!

This will increase the heat mass of your fridge, and provide extra 'virtual' insulation.  It will also minimize heat swings caused by opening the fridge/freezer door and adding new food/beverages.  You'd be surprised to see how big of a temperature swing is created by adding a case of cokes to an empty fridge!

2.  Keep the coils cleaned.

If there's dust on the coils, clean them off!  This usually requires a brush and a vaccuum, though you can be creative.  If your coils are underneath your fridge (the least efficient design), you may need to be creative.  I recommend using a coat hanger and a VERY VERY small brush.  Attach the brush to the coathanger to give you more reach, and make sure you clean every square inch, top and bottom.  DO NOT use ANY chemicals on your coils, especially if you value your fridge. 

3.  Give the coils/fan room to breath.

Make sure your fridge follows manufacturer directions regarding the proximety to walls, ceilings, etc.  If your coils don't have fresh, room temperature air to circulate over them, they won't work efficiently.  If you are unsure of just how much room to give your unit, go with the rule of 3:  3 inches from the back, sides, and top of the unit.  This may be overkill depending on your model, but better safe than sorry.

4.  Use a watt meter to see if you need a new fridge.

These are availiable for around 20-30$ (google Kill-o-watt).  These are VERY useful for reducing your power consumption and increasing your awareness!  If you have an old fridge, it will tell you exactly how much power your fridge is using over a period of time. Test the fridge for at least 3 days, and see how much it is costing you to operate per year.  For example, if your unit uses 15 kilowatt hours in a 3 day period, you're using 5 kilowatt hours per day, which could be costing you 328$ per year (at $0.18/kilowatt hour)!  Even in the area of the country where power is the cheapest, this fridge would cost well over $100 per year.  Very energy efficient fridges can cost around $50 per year in areas of average utility cost.

More to come!