Performance of domestic refrigerators in laboratory and home environments

Data was collected on temperature control and energy consumption of domestic refrigerators in the home. Data from the survey was extracted to compare the performance of the refrigerators in the home with performance in a test environment. Due to differences in internal and external appliance temperatures between laboratory and home data, the energy measured in the home was normalised to enable direct comparison between laboratory and home energy consumption. Overall without normalisation 61% of appliances consumed more energy in the home than the laboratory. After normalisation this value was increased to 85%. The rank order of energy use was also assessed and found to vary considerably between the laboratory and the home (irrespective of whether energy consumption was normalised for temperature effects). The reasons for the differences in energy use are discussed and suggestions made to provide consumers with a more transparent method to assess performance of refrigerated appliances in their homes.