March 1997 Issue #15

Comparing Refrigerators

There has been much discussion about improvements in the efficiency of American refrigerators due to appliance standards and the Golden Carrot program. So how do US refrigerators compare with their European and Japanese rivals? As part of a wider project to study the global appliance market, collected data on refrigerator efficiencies in Europe and Japan based on models available in 1995. Building Energy Measurement and Performance Analysis researcher Alan Meier collected data on refrigerator efficiencies in Europe and Japan based on models available in 1995.

US refrigerators appear to be among the most efficient available. The most common way of measuring efficiency is annual energy use per unit of refrigerator volume, such as kWh per liter per year. As the figure shows, the US models are more efficient than essentially all comparable Japanese and most European units.

These results must be interpreted with caution. The energy test procedure in the US differs from that used in Europe and Japan. The US test is stricter, so that after adjustments to the other procedures, US models would be even more efficient. On the other hand, Meier limited the comparison to larger, automatic-defrost units. Since large, automatic- defrost units are not popular in Europe, the range of comparable units available is rather narrow. Japanese refrigerators are nearly all auto-defrost but most are smaller than typical US units. Finally, it is easy to confuse energy efficiency and energy use. Even though US units are more efficient, they are much larger than those in European and Japanese homes. On balance, the difference in energy use per refrigerator is much smaller than the difference in efficiency.

The US is the only country with strict energy standards for refrigerators. The figure shows the double impact of standards. First, US models are more efficient. Second, the range of energy efficiency is narrower: US refrigerator manufacturers met the standard but did not go much beyond it.

Comparison of energy consumption per liter of frost-free refrigerator-freezers manufactured in the United States, Europe, and Japan in 1995. Data based on technical specifications from manufacturers.

The situation will change considerably in 1997. The Golden Carrot refrigerators--introduced in 1996--use 30% less energy than those in 1995. Japanese manufacturers, after removing CFCs, are now concentrating on cutting energy use. Matsushita, for example, recently announced production of a refrigerator that used 50% less electricity than an almost identical model that it sold the year before. Several European manufacturers are also busy improving their products.

Some pictures of international refrigerators:

• This is from a European refrigerator catalog.
• This is the cover from a Japanese refrigerator catalog.

-Alan Meier

Read the original cover letter mailed with this article on March 20, 1997.
For more information, please contact Alan Meier.

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