Packing it In

This week's WhiteFence tip for green living has to do with conservation of precious energy, specifically in the kitchen. Many people know that leaving a door or window open can waste valuable energy used to heat or cool your home, just like leaving the water running can be a waste of water.

Likewise, the refrigerator and the freezer are the cold places in your home that waste a lot of energy when they are left open for long periods of time. For the freezer, it is even more so, as the contrast between the freezing temperatures inside and the room temperatures outside is even greater than that of the refrigerator. While this seems to be common knowledge, there is a helpful tip to conserve as much energy as possible when leaving the freezer open: Fill it up!

A freezer uses the least amount of energy when it's completely full. When a stuffed freezer is open, only small spaces exist for warm air to creep inside, allowing it to operate more efficiently.If you're short on food that needs to be frozen, filling plastic jugs with water are good ways to occupy more of the freezer.