"So when you're looking to reduce the carbon footprint from your household appliances , the refrigerator is naturally one of the first places you look. Refrigerators aren't actually the worst emissions offenders in the home - that dubious honor goes to air conditioners - but they do account for about 4% of a home's emissions. That's 89 kg of CO2/year , and it adds up over the lifetime of the appliance."
"Refrigerators also contain refrigerants, which are red-list chemicals with incredibly high global warming potential. These refrigerants generate emissions directly. The amount depends on the type of refrigerant used and how much escapes into the atmosphere. Since the Montreal Protocol banned CFCs, refrigerators have typically used R-134a as a refrigerant. Chlorinated fluorocarbons like R-134a are far less damaging to the ozone layer than CFCs, but they are not harmless."
Refrigerators run 24 hours a day and account for about 4% of a home's emissions, roughly 89 kg CO2 per year. Indirect emissions come from electricity use and depend on appliance efficiency and the electricity generation mix. Older refrigerators consume about 33% more energy than current Energy Star models; units over 15 years old can cost more than $80 per year extra. Refrigerants inside refrigerators are high-global-warming-potential chemicals that produce direct emissions when released. R-134a was widely used but has been phased out in new refrigerators in favor of R-600a (isobutane), which has much lower GWP. Domestic cooling equipment contributes nearly 10% of global CO2 emissions, and the Kigali Amendment mandates large HFC reductions in developed countries by 2036.
Read at Earth911
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