Today in beer tech: The energy-sucking Canadian "beer fridge"
While you may not think of your backup beer stash as "redundant," Canadians are urged to ditch their second fridge in the interest of power costs
You know that extra refrigerator you keep in the garage, the one that's full of soft drinks, extra holiday turkeys, five cartons of your favorite ice cream, and, yes, surplus cases of beer for poker night? Every third Canadian household has one, and it's costing the already-chilled nation in extra power.
The "beer fridge" is usually an older machine that's been replaced in the kitchen by a newer model, and their owners don't really consider that the dinosaur iceboxes emit a lot of greenhouse gases and eat tons of electricity.
Popular Mechanics makes a compelling case for cost savings: "(An older fridge can) cost an extra $150 a year to run, Young says. Four-fifths, or $120, of the costs could be saved by replacing the fridge with a more energy-efficient unit--enough for at least 10 more cases of beer."
Read the full story at Popular Mechanics.