Posted on 04/18/2011 2:03:49 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
Time: Your Icemaker Is Killing the Earth By Lachlan Markay Created 04/18/2011 - 4:37pm
By Lachlan Markay | April 18, 2011 | 16:37
This just in, courtesy of Time Magazine: Mother Gaia is dying and your ice maker is the perp. Continue churning out ice with your automated cube-maker, and you'll be contributing to the plight of the 50 million refugees the United Nations insists anthropogenic global warming has caused will cause by 2020.
Time took a study by the National Institute of Standards and Technology showing significant energy use by ice makers and ran with it. Want to save the Earth?" the article asked. "Easy, just buy a couple of ice trays." The article goes on to educate "laypeople" (the actual phrase used) on the havoc their refrigerators are wreaking on the planet (h/t Moonbattery).
According to the just-released findings, the average ice maker in the average fridge increases energy consumption by 12% to 20%—a whole lot of juice for an appliance that is in operation 24 hours a day from the moment you first plug it in till the moment you replace it a decade or more later. The reason that number was so unexpected was that the large majority of refrigerators are refrigerator-freezer combinations anyway—which means they're freezing water and making ice no matter what. So why should the simple business of automating the process be so energetically expensive?
The answer, it turns out, is the tiny motor inside the freezing system that's used to release the bits of ice from the mold and dump them into a tray. A motor that is designed to operate in so cold a setting needs an internal heater to keep it from freezing up, and heating elements require a lot of power—in this case, roughly three fourths of the total additional energy the ice maker uses.
Certainly, on the list of big things that are responsible for global warming, the icemaker ranks a good ways behind the coal-fired power plant, but averting climate catastrophe is often a game played in increments and inches, and every kilowatt hour helps. NIST is thus urging refrigerator manufacturers to look closely at the design of their icemakers, insisting that there are "substantial opportunities for efficiency improvements merely by optimizing the operations of the heaters."
Me too!!!
But seriously, I've never understood the attraction of ice-makers.
I guess it's partly because I have an old house, which I try to keep old looking. Ergo modern-looking plastic-y crap in the kitchen has to be kept to a minimum.
I hate stuff that spoils the illusion, in the sanctuary of my kitchen, that I'm living in the good ol' days 100 years ago....
Think of all the trees that Time murdered to print it’s filthy rag.
Time Magazine is killing the earth.
Once upon a time an appliance manufacturer needed to increase the volume of sales of their washers and dryers.
To their dismay, the Company found consumers, often kept their washer and dryer up to 20 years, mostly out of sight; and hear tell, sometimes in a musty basement. The pair had come to quarrel more over the years, as the dryer blamed the washer for her unbalanced load and too often bumping against the dryer; and the washer blamed the dryer for spending hours at night trying to finish the load. If one of the pair suffered appliance break down, then the one was replaced with much more friendly and younger version. Who saw them anyway. Age didn't matter with the two, but I digress...
The appliance store sales people had become bored with the washer and dryer. The manufacturer knew it needed to put fire back into their Sales Team's belly, so the company called in their design team who added a new front load feature. They also added a few new colors. An optional platform base to lift up the units, and the consumer would no longer have to exert as much energy in stooping over. The words were added: User Friendly. Everyone applauded.
The Green Team waiting in the wings was then called in. Promote the use of less water per wash load, they said, and consumers will feel they would be doing their earthly duty by Saving the Planet; and saving on the cost of energy. The "want" for a new appliance became a purchase of "a need" to conserve. Together we can all Save the Planet and save a few dollars on our utility bill.
Sales of what was once considered a boring appliance group, suddenly increased. The washer and dryer became a popular appliance again. The Company thanked their Sales Team, who thanked the Green Team, who thanked the Government.
Seeing the success of their washer and dryer, the marketing people called another meeting and said: "The refrigerator has become boring"--side by side, top and bottom; and stainless has been in for a while and looks like it is here stay, so we need a new edge.
They called in the Green Team again who frowned and said the ice maker on the refrigerator is not earth friendly aka it's the killing the planet.
The ENERGY FRIENDLY Government stepped in and said we will help you promote your product with an ENERGY STAR® as the consumer will feel even more justified about his or her purchase, if rewarded a tax credit.
So Company said: LET THE MARKETING BEGIN!
.... and The People and The Planet lived happily ever after.
The End.
Note it may cost more to purchase the ENERGY STAR® than the standard models. Also, names like "Energy Miser," "Energy Saver" and "Fuel Saver" don't necessarily guarantee a savings. Consumer groups say best way to determine energy efficiency of appliances is to actually compare information provided by EnergyGuide labels.
Has anyone considered how much liberals contribute to global warming with their endless spouting of hot air and greenhouse gas?
You are right. The important thing is that the greenies consider my behavior malicious . . . toward them. I could never catch up to their waste. They have thrown more money up a wild hog’s a$$ than I can even imagine . . . and being trained as an accountant and in the banking business for over 30 years, I can imagine a lot!!!
2010 / 2020 ? Convenient how they omitted the U.N’s botched prediction. Cue Emily Latella; “never mind”
Great story.
The term ‘greenwashing’ has been used to refer to fake ‘green’ marketing campaigns. Like the hotel claiming they are going green by skimping on giving you clean towels. ... greenwashing! So now restaurants will make you ASK for ice, and when you protest, they can say they are being ‘earth-friendly’.
I’ll bet anything there are refrigerators in Time Magazine offices that make ice. Typical liberals... telling us how we should go back to caves and donkey-carts while they live in limousines and penthouses.
LOL!
Awesome! Can a Nobel Peace Prize be imminent?
Actually, if we can't successfully thwart the plans of those currently running Western civilization into the ground, in a little while it will no longer be an illusion... /g
A far bigger user of energy is the ‘self-cleaning oven’.
No one even mentions it.
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