

Almost Genius: Refrigerator Saves Energy, by Clinging to Walls... Outside - bhc3
http://www.fastcodesign.com/1662202/almost-genius-refrigerator-saves-energy-by-clinging-to-walls-outside

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ynniv
Wow, _that's_ gimmicky. Let me guess how this started...

 _Designer:_ How can we save energy by redesigning the fridge?

 _Engineer:_ Well, you could save a lot of energy if the expansion coil
weren't warming up your air-conditioned interior. We could run piping from the
fridge to a box outside, like a window-unit air conditioner.

 _Designer:_ No one is going to run pipes out of their kitchen... Oh! Lets put
the _whole fridge_ outside! No ugly pipes, and then it would be in the _sun_!
Solar power!

 _Engineer:_ ... Do you even know how much energy a fridge uses compared to
cheap flexible solar paneling? How are we going to insulate it from the 95 deg
direct sun in the summer? How do we keep seals from freezing in the winter?
What about all the energy you lose every time you _open a window_ from a
climate controlled room to the outside?

 _Designer:_ And LED's!

 _Engineer:_ ...

 _Designer:_ It's like every unit sold is an _advertisement for us_!

 _Engineer:_ I need a beer and an escape slide.

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Groxx
_Designer:_ Great idea! You could grab it on your way out!

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cracki
did the both of you coordinate this?

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pkulak
This seems like the worst way to use the outside temperature to your
advantage. They didn't even mention that it would have to be heated in the
winter unless you wanted your milk to freeze solid. It's probably a lot more
practical to just keep your fridge indoors and hook it up to a heat pump
outside.

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jules
I use outdoors as a fridge/freezer in the winter. It works very well though
you have to keep animals away.

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anamax
I understand that the University of Alaska has rules against hanging meat out
dorm room windows.

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Groxx
I dunno... it might serve as a sacrificial offering to the Seniors to keep
them from eating the Freshmen. You'd think they'd be in favor of that.

 _Unless_... they're _using_ the Seniors to improve the gene pool of the
Freshman...

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Partyboat
Reusing natural heat/cold should really be more common... Free energy. I
remember seeing designs for a shower whose drainpipe wrapped around the cold
water pipe. The heat transfer through the pe between the two made for a 30ish
percent energy reduction.

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DaniFong
This is a very good idea -- one can increase the heat exchange quick
dramatically, actually. This works also for washing machines, driers, and
dishwashers.

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Groxx
External? Hell no. I don't want to clean bird-poop off my fridge. Ick.

Wall mounted, mostly-vertical arrangement for a small fridge? I like. But it
needs to fit four things reliably to be considered by most people: gallon milk
jugs, 2 Liter bottles, 12-packs of cans, and 6-packs of bottles. Were it a
freezer, I'd add a medium-large pizza box to the list.

(above list not mean to imply that's all people use, just that they're
standard shapes / sizes of _many_ things people put in their fridges. So much
so that fridges and these items are _designed_ to fit each other with narrow
tolerances.)

