Lowering the Energy State

When we first moved into our home, friends from the Church gave us an old chest freezer. We put it into our garage (the only place it would fit at the time), and discovered what a God-send it was. Sara especially appreciated the opportunity to freeze all sorts of foods, from prepared meals to garden-fresh veggies. She is a pro at saving money by planning ahead, which gift the chest freezer greatly augmented. Here she is in our garage:

Over the last couple of years, Sara's astute money-saving eye has ascertained that this old chest freezer, while effective in its appointed task, was sucking inordinate amounts of electricity through our meter. It was the equivalent of a military humvee: heavy, powerful, effective, and a drain on the pocketbook.

In accordance with her giftedness, Sara discovered that Lowe's had chest freezers on sale, and that the NY state government offered cash rebates to homeowners who upgraded to Energy Star appliances. She found a freezer that (with a little squirreling of cash) was affordable, would hold the requisite amount of food, and would likely cost us under 75$ per year to feed.

Plus, Lowe's would pick up our old chest freezer and recycle it for us.

So after her three-year tour of distinguished service, we kicked the old chest freezer to the curb:

And purchased a home-delivered Frigidaire chest freezer:

Extra bonus: the new freezer lives inside, which means we don't have to put on shoes and go out to the garage to get victuals. We'll be saving energy in so many new ways!

Thank God for my wife, and for her gift of household management!

(Additional thanks to Lowe's, the Energy Star program, the VanDerHeides, and whomever invented refrigeration.)

~emrys