Old refrigerator in the Physics building

The Office of Sustainability is offering financial incentives for campus departments to get rid of their old refrigerators — a move officials said would translate to lower energy consumption and an estimated $10,000 in savings a year.

The goal of the Refrigerator Replacement Program is to replace 50 refrigerators that were manufactured before 2001 while completely getting rid of another 20 refrigerators. New energy-efficient refrigerators would cost the university about $50 a year, while older units cost $150 year, according to Mark Stewart, the Office of Sustainability’s senior project manager. Moreover, newer refrigerators are not only more energy-efficient, but they also emit less greenhouse gases.

The idea for the program came to Stewart last summer when physics science technician Bill Norwood came to him for funds to replace a 50-year-old refrigerator in his department’s faculty lounge.

“This made me think that we probably have a lot of energy hogs on campus,” Stewart said. “I’ve heard of other schools doing it, so I wrote up a proposal for sustainability.”

Under the program, departments that replace their refrigerators with Energy Star or Consortium for Energy Efficiency tier one models would receive a $200 rebate from the sustainability office. Departments that replace their refrigerators with CEE Tier two or three models would receive a $250 rebate, while those that decommission their refrigerators completely would receive a $300 reward. Additionally, departments that participate in the university’s Green Office Program would be granted an extra $100 for replacing their refrigerators.

Sustainability officials hope to have all the new refrigerators purchased by this summer. Although the program currently only has enough funding to replace 50 refrigerators and decommission 20, Stewart said officials would be able to find more funds for other departments if there is a greater demand. Preference will be given to the oldest refrigerators because they use the most energy, he added.

“We wanted to see how the first run went,” Stewart said. “There is a return on the investment for the university, so it’s generally pretty easy to find funding for these types of things.”

The math department, which is a Green Office on the campus, has already applied for the program. Coordinator Jamie Carrigan said the department currently owns a General Electric top freezer model refrigerator that is more than 20 years old, and she hopes the program and other sustainability initiatives on campus will help reduce the amount of money spent on utility bills.

“When a lot of people do a few simple things every day, the impact can be amazing,” Carrigan said. “It’s likely that some of the research that’s been done on campus in the past is responsible for the energy efficient refrigerators we have today.”

Norwood said he hopes increasing awareness about the efficiency of refrigerators will increase awareness about the efficiency of other appliances in general.

“Actually doing this brings consistency with stated environmental goals,” Norwood said. “Creating this consistency with campus environmental goals will also improve the general picture in people’s minds.”

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