When I was younger, my parents rented an apartment in an older building built prior to World War Two. The exterior walls were built up entirely of brick as was the fashion back then.
Under the kitchen window was a box with a stamped steel door on it. Inside was a welded sheet-metal steel box that was open to the inside and with holes in the back vented to the outside.
Not sure what it was called back then. We simply referred to it as the "Cold Box" and while it was used periodically, we preferred the electric refrigerator.
Energy was abundant and cheap after WW2 so no one cared much about the cost of keeping things refrigerated.
I have two refrigerator-freezers running at home to keep things cold as do millions of others here in the east. It's about 14° F outside as I write this and I am burning up wattage to keep thing cold inside the house! This is nuts!
Refrigerators are said to be the highest consumers in the typical household and we are running them with power generated from burned hydrocarbons.
How much would it take to carve a hole in an exterior wall. Place a simple thermostatically controlled vent to the outdoors and an insulated door inside. You could keep things cold for free at least part of the year.
Toasters are also wasteful. I toast one slice and the whole thing lights up. A double slice toaster has six heating element surfaces when only two are needed to toast a slice.
When is Going Green going to show up in the home in some place other than light bulbs?
How many of oddities like this can you share that might cut our energy dependence?
L.J.
Simple Energy-Saving Ideas that Don't Cost Anything
Re: Simple Energy-Saving Ideas that Don't Cost Anything
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