"energy" conservation... or just "my money" conservation...?
 

I hafta say, most people don't think beyond their direct impact.

Say you have an old 700kWh/year refrigerator and you just bought a new onew that uses 275kWh/year.

Which of these two choices would you make on the haul-away option?

1.) haul-away guy who will refurnish, then resell it, but gives you $50 for it.

2.) haul-away guy who damages it beyond economic repair before your eyes, so that it will not get put back into service.

Personally, I'd take it or have it taken to a recyclers. They have a program here through the local utility where they take them in and give you $50. I would imagine they reclaim the refrigerant, and properly dispose of the machine.

Curiously limiting choice of alternatives...

Since my own refrigerator is a $90 (as I recall) second-hand converted mini-freezer that uses maybe 73 Kw-h per year (since the conversion), I'd be very hard pressed to find anything that was less expensive, and less a burden on the environment, since the price of ecological damage caused by manufacturing had already been paid, and I re-purposed it such that it's power use has been drastically reduced and it's useful life is now greatly extended.


But, to play the game:

I think that since we (North America) have not developed the practice of building appliances with recyclable modules, the damage to the environment from manufacturing a new refrigerator, is likely to NOT be offset by scrapping and buying a newly manufactured one that has only reduced it's energy use by 62%. So, I'd try to find some way to keep the old one running...

For me, I would ask around to see if anybody I know needed a refrigerator for free.

If that didn't do it, I'd go on the Internet to my local FreeCycle, to see if anybody wanted one for free.

If that didn't do it, I'd go on to CraigsList to see if anybody wanted one for free.

If that didn't do it, I'd haul it 1/4 mile down the street to Goodwill, and donate it.

If that didn't fit the moment, I'd roll it 100 feet to my fairly busy street corner and set it out on the curb with "FREE, WORKING" plainly printed on the door. It would be gone within 30 minutes.

-AC

Yep, because they know people will dump it on Craigslist for a bit of cash or use it in their garage otherwise. Some program require destruction (I'd imagine something like ripping out the door gasket or breaking the glass in shelving.. or something that makes uneconomical to repair... not releasing refrigerant) before leaving site to avoid diversion.

I made these hypothetical examples, because, these two options both provide the same convenience factor of haul-away at the time of delivery.

Guess what? This is the American way: one man's trash is another's treasure, and the guy who connects the two is known as a broker. Just look at the used car industry, the real estate industry, or the recycling industry. Welcome to the status quo.

IMHO, 50 bucks is 50 bucks, and if Joe Dirt can't afford a new fridge like me, he can reuse my old one and keep it out of the landfill for another indeterminate length of time. It'll keep his beer cool just fine. Maybe he can upgrade to a keg now...

But, do you find it eco when you're just re-allocating inefficiency?

My old fridge was from the 1970's and used around 275kwh per year and when I replaced it I figured I'd find loads of them that were better... that was not the case! so I gave it to a neighbor who now has it full of beer and two kegs connected up to it for keeping even more beer cold.
It would be nice if the rebates were based off of energy saved, but when you add things like defrost, ice makers, side by side doors and all those other frills, you can build a fridge that uses 2 to 3 times what my old fridge used that are still energy star rated!

What size is it? I'm surprised it was that low usage. How did you observe the kWh usage and over how long?

Destroying something that works makes no sense to the environment. It's better being reused than being put in a landfill somewhere. "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle".

It's like the whole cash for clunkers a few years ago where they put "death liquid" in the engine. Destroying perfectly good cars in interest of "helping the economy". Those old "clunkers" could have helped somebody get to work.

Might as well try to recycle them. There is so much foam and plastic in them now they are almost not worth recycling.
The scrap yard here only gives like $7 or $8 for fridges and freezers.