Retire the Spare Fridge

You might want to reconsider whether the old spare fridge in the garage or basement is worth keeping-especially if its main purpose is to store mass quantities of bargain-priced soda and beer.

Refrigerators are the most energy-intensive of all electric appliances. Most use more than 1000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) annually.

If you recycle your spare refrigerator, you'll save around $125 per year on electricity bills. You could save even more if your utility company offers a cash incentive to customers who recycle aged appliances.

If 10 percent of all U.S. households with multiple refrigerators recycled one of their spares, the savings would total more than 2 billion kWh per year. The energy conserved would reduce emissions of greenhouse gases by more than 1.6 million tons-equivalent to removing more than 280,000 cars from America's highways.