The Green House Effect: Eco Appliance Technology

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/danny-seo/the-green-house-effect-e_b_91296.html

The Green House Effect: Eco Appliance Technology

Posted March 13, 2008 | 08:31 AM (EST)

Back in 2000, I wrote my first book Conscious Style Home about the renovation of my parents' Pennsylvania home using environmentally-friendly materials and techniques. It was one of the first eco-design books published, and looking back today, it shows.

One of the projects I showcased was resurfacing a giant SubZero refrigerator using coats and coats of chalkboard paint. The outcome was cool; you could write grocery lists and messages right onto the fridge. But the eco-reasoning was outright stupid; I figured it was better to rescue an old refrigerator (this was more than 10 years old) than to replace it with a new one.

Now I know better. A refrigerator that is 10 years old is likely to be using twice as much energy as the first day you plugged it in. And since a refrigerator is on 24/7, that can be a real energy hog in the home. And don't get me started on SubZeros: they are like the Hummers of refrigeration.

When I began renovating my house, I was glad to hear how easy it would be to recycle all the old appliances at the scrap metal yard. There's incredible value in scrap metal, so the process of having it picked up and recycled was painless. It felt reassuring knowing the 1970's kitchen relics would be torn apart, melted and made into new metal products.

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