Improving Refrigerator Efficiency: A Thought

Actually Government Refrigerator Standards will up upped to the following values, min freezer temp 31° , and reefer side, 56°. Save a boatload of power there wot?
Think of the Kwh we can have save, just by running our units just a little bit higher!

 

Frozen food needs to be around zero F for long-term storage. Ice cream melts way below 31F.

I can't seem to find a consistent answer on commercial freezers in grocery stores. But as near as I can make out, it's typical for modern grocery stored to have centralized, roof-based compressor setups using evaporative cooling. I can find several estimates of the savings from converting the roof units to evaporative cooling, I can't seem to find a single estimate that is unambiguously the savings from converting a bunch of stand-alone units to a centralized cooling system. Anyway, if I'm reading things right, modern grocery stores already put the compressors outside, just like an AC unit. I just can't find an estimate of savings.

 

Generally commercial refrigeration is done with an external compressor (or 10). On the other hand grocery stores use remarkably inefficient storage units. Open chests? Huge glass doors? Open stand up units?? So maybe not.

 

The walk-ins for storage and research we have at work have those external units that look just like commercial AC ones. The commercial grade stand ups we use have the motor and compressor on the top so their heat doesn't rise onto the cold box. Just the early home models before someone decided that it wasn't 'pretty'.

 

Supermarkets use remote systems with the condenser (the hot part) on the roof and the compressor units in a machine room. They do, however, use heat reclaim systems for water and space heating. They are mostly concerned with product quality, but efficiency is a close second. As noted above, remote home refrigeration systems are available.

 

They're just outside the budget of most homes for refrigeration. Commercial units with the motor and compressor on top mostly are too.​

 

Our fridge is nearly new. It's efficiency could double, if 'she who must be obeyed' would close the door between her trips to the other side of the kitchen. Last week I woke up early, came down stairs only to find the bottom freezer ajar (shaking head). On the positive side, at least it was only LED lights running in the freezer ... in stead of hot little incandescent lamps, which add even more heat.