Refrigerator Economics

Your fridge is as old as your middle schooler but is still keeping their pb and j just the right temperature. Is it better to upgrade to a new refrigerator now to save on energy later?

Understanding that all your appliances (particularly the refrigerator) have an initial purchase fee plus a post purchase operating fee (electricity); when to buy can be problematic. When shopping check out the Energy Guide label that will give you the products efficiency compared to other refrigerators plus an estimation of how much energy it will use in a year. It’s bright yellow with black lettering and hard to miss. Take the annual energy cost on the Energy Guide label and multiply it by the life of the appliance. Then add the purchase price. This will be the cost of the fridge over its lifetime (obviously just an estimate as energy costs fluctuate). If you want to know the yearly energy cost, take the kilowatt-hour figure from the label and multiply it times the cost of a kilowatt hour of electricity (get that from your latest energy bill). This will give you some kind of idea whether purchasing a refrigerator now or later is best for you.