Energy performance of domestic cold appliances in laboratory and home environments

Energy used by domestic refrigerators can be a large part of household energy use. In most countries, consumers are informed of the energy used by their appliance through energy labels or manufacturers data provided with the appliance. Work was carried out to ascertain whether the information provided to consumers provided an accurate reflection on the energy used in real life.

Data was extracted from a large-scale survey of the performance of domestic cold appliances. Information on temperature control and electricity consumption as well as information about the appliances was collected in the survey. In total 998 appliances were examined, of which 124 were used for the analysis in this paper. For each of these appliances, the electricity measured by the appliance manufacturer in a test laboratory was compared to the energy consumed in the home. Sixty-one percent of appliances consumed more energy in the home than the laboratory. The rank order of energy used by appliances was also assessed and found to vary considerably between the laboratory and the home. A more transparent test method to assess performance of refrigerated appliances in the home is suggested.