Global Assembly Dialog

The refrigerator is the appliance that consumes the most power in the home, between 10%-25% of the electricity costs per year. The average lifespan of a residential refrigerator/freezer  is now 12 years, during which maintenance is required 3 times on average. It is inherently wasteful to chill the air in the appliance when it is already cold outside; the appliance is poorly designed, and must chill the internal air 24 x 7 x 365 – even when not in use. Minor modifications would increase efficiency and food safety significantly.

The solution is a  modification to existing refrigerators, freezers and combination devices. Once installed, the control panel decides when it is appropriate to use free cold air from the outside to chill one or both compartments. When the Coldsnap devices are operating, they use 80%-95% less power than the appliances' compressor systems to get the same result. During warmer periods, the device evacuates created heat to the outside to prevent redundant cooling of the home environment. Other enhancements installed at the same time increase food safety and appliance longevity.

This solution is still under development, with anticipated release to the marketplace by Q4-2009.

Although the solution has a cost to implement, the power providers in three Canadian provinces have shown an interest in funding the solution's development and subsidizing the solution's adoption with an eye towards conservation. The solution is only useful in areas where there are 80+ days of cold weather in a year, which includes all of Canada, parts of the United States and Japan, segments of Northern Europe, Russia and China. In Quebec alone, a widespread adoption would save enough power to eliminate the need for a medium size generator (325 MW); for a hydroelectic utility, the environmental savings far outweighs the fiscal impact.