From a feature about low-tech refrigeration for rural Africa in The Ecologist I learn that “refrigerators and freezers account for 25% of the UK’s average household electricity bill” and that “US refrigerators use about 7% of all US electricity; that’s 25 large power plants’ worth”. Can these numbers possibly be right? They look to me like they might be the kind of mad extrapolation that gives the environmental movement a bad name.
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The percentages given don’t, of course, necessarily mean that American refrigerators are more efficient than the UK’s. The Americans use far more electricity per capita than most (perhaps all) other nations – primarily because of their love of air conditioning. So the 7% figure doesn’t tell you an awful lot.