Green houses are all the rage, but greening seems to ignore kitche regrigerators for the most part.
What temperature do things put in your refrigerator have to be kept at to keep them "refrigerated?" Not talking about the freezer portion?
I ask, because it occurred to me that most single family houses could easily have a dumbwaiter built into the kitchen that lowered milk, water, soda pop, and other things that go into a refrigerator into the ground and just use the ground temperature for coolant. The dumb waiter could even be the size of a refrigerator and be raised and lowered with an electric motor and pulleys, or even a hand crank with proper block and tackle, thus elminating the need for an electric motor driven fridge, plus the coolants and what have you associated with these machines. Cellars used to serve this function, but people did not like the inconvenience of going up and down stairs. Couldn't a dumb waiter device relying on below ground temperaturs cheaply and efficiently cool refrigerated goods without the cost and complexity of a refrigerator and leave one needing only to have a modest freezer?
Something like that...
is probably possible, but people did away with keeping food in the cellars because it was a hassle going up and down stairs. I'd say that most people would think that the whole dumbwaiter thing would be a hassle too. Not to mention that you have to make sure all the parts of the dumbwaiter stay in working order. The good aspect about such an idea is the environmentally-friendly part...no electricity, etc if you used a non-electric dumbwaiter.
Interesting idea, DCW
In my new careeer of renewable energy, we deal a lot with problem of refrigeration. In many homes the fridge is the single largest user of electricity. Only A/C or electric heat is worse. Resistive loads (heating and cooling) are the single worst thing to do with electricity. It's inefficient and uses a lot of juice.
The technology has improved a lot but it's still not a good use of electrical power. So your idea would work well especially if we could drop the load below ground 6-10 ft. The temp down there is about 55F in my part of the country which is not that far off the recommended 42F of a regular fridge. But I can't see folks being willing to wait the minute or two it would take to bring the box to the surface.
DC versus AC power is actually a better choice for refrigeration and most large A/C units on commercial building are DC loads. My company offers DC fridges, take a look below so you can see what they're like. They are much more simplistic that today's 'modern' fridge with ice and water delivery, so they are much more energy efficient.
http://store.altenergystore.com/Energy-Efficient-Products/Refrigerators-...
Olive, I thought about the trouble with waiting for the up down motion....
Here is what I came up with.
Scenario A--Ascetic Healthy
Bring fridge up and leave it up during breakfast, lunch and dinner time for a half hour each. Lower it after each period. Have bottled water lowered in a second shaft. Use a hand pump on the water. Quit eating between meals and drink water between meals the way we're supposed to, instead of chilled cokes, beer, milk, wine and so on.
Scenario B--Hybrid
Use one of your energy efficient Fridges. Raise it during parts of the day when you expect to be home and in need of accessing the fridge. Run it on electricity while raised. Lower it in the ground with juice off whenever you are not using it (e.g., while sleeping at night, when not at home in the daytime, etc.).
Scenario C--Combo
Big fridge is entirely cooled by being underground. Small supplemental hyper efficient fridge runs on electricity and is kept above ground. Its for impulse items.
US and Canada mostly...
the Miller brand is actually made by the Amish! It's pretty fun working with them actually. They are very responsive/responsible folks. In this new world of climate change, they're actually looking smart for they way they live versus our typical wasteful existence.
And don't forget the Mennonites and Dunkards...
don't know the specifics of their religious distinctions, but they all evidence alernative approaches to the embrace of technologies. I always recall my father taking me to a Mennonite family's home in the midwest. Their particular approach that all the latest technology was appropriate for work (the latest combines, tractors, dirt bikes, trucks, etc.) farming and work, but that horse and buggies and wood burning stoves and houses without lights were appropriate for persons family lives. It was a fairly strong incentive system aimed at encouraging productivity and discouraging watching Sex in the City and Monday Night Football in the evenings. 🙂
I am not big on religions...
...but I was asked one day, during the build up of a booth at a Philadelphia show, if I was Amish just because I did not use any electrical tools...It is interesting indeed how Mennonites, Amish, Shakers and to some extend Hasidic Judaism embrace technology as long as it does not interfere with family life. One of the more creative exemples is the acceptance of the tractor by the Amish population as long as it has steel wheels instead of tires (allowing for work on the land, but not for traveling on roads). Shakers were very involved in rationalizing and mechanizing farmwork and crafts in general. I know this is not part of the below ground refrigerating discussion, but I have nothing to contribute to the subject other than that a good cellar separated and isolated from the rest of the basement, does an excellent job...I know it requires going up and down a few times before preparing meals, but that saves you about $100 a month just in gym fees.
I find this rejection of technology in family life versus our invasion of technology in it, an interesting difference. Considering that the main cause of the depletion of natural resources (approx. 1/3th of all natural resources used in the last 50 years) is not the use of materials but the waste (80% of refrigerators found on dumps are in working order) I think that the thought that this invasion of technology in the homes is satisfying our chase for Utopia rather than the persuid of happiness is an interesting one.
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