B4 • Friday, January 27, 2023
A FRIDGE TOO FAR? Katherine Roth ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — There are those for whom recycling and composting are not nearly enough, who have reduced their annual waste to almost zero, ditched their clothes dryer or given up flying, and are ready to take the next step in exploring the frontiers of sustainable living. For Manhattanite Josh Spodek, that has meant going without a refrigerator, which he identified as the biggest source of electrical use in his Greenwich Village apartment. Spodek began by deciding to go packaging-free, and one small step led to another. Now, he is living virtually grid-free in a city that in many ways is the epitome of grids. “It was a mindset shift followed by continual improvement,” Spodek says. He first unplugged the fridge for three winter months, and then the next year for around six months (from November to early spring, when food generally kept for about two days on his windowsill). Now, he’s been fridge-free for over a year. Spodek is quick to point out that he’s not against refrigeration in general, but views it as unnecessary for everyone to have running 24/7. In many parts of the world, he notes, refrigerators are a rarity. “People in Manhattan lived without refrigeration until the mid 20th century,” he says, “so it’s clearly doable.” Critics are quick to point out that this experiment should not be taken lightly. “People’s lives can be at risk if certain foods go off. Certain dairy products go off very easily and
Long-term mortgage rate at lowest level in 4 months ASSOCIATED PRESS The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate fell to its lowest level in more than four months, giving some relief to homebuyers faced with higher prices for just about everything, including homes. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac reported Thursday that the average on the benchmark 30-year rate inched down to 6.13 percent from 6.15 percent last week. A year ago the average rate was 3.55 percent. The average long-term rate reached a two-decade high of 7.08 percent in late October and early November 2022, as the Federal Reserve continued to raise its key lending rate in a bid to cool the economy and tame inflation. The big rise in mortgage rates during the past year has throttled the housing market, with sales of existing homes falling for 11 straight months to the lowest level in more than a decade. The National Association of Realtors said last week that existing U.S. home sales totaled 5.03 million last year, a 17.8 percent decline from 2021. That is the weakest year for home sales since 2014 and the biggest annual decline since 2008, during the housing crisis of the late 2000s. Though home prices have retreated as demand has declined, they are still more than 10 percent higher than a year ago. Higher prices and a doubling of mortgage rates have made homebuying much less affordable for many people, but recent rate declines could give some homebuyers new hope.
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Living sustainably in NYC by unplugging
over the years mean they typically use less power now than, say, a heating system or water heater. “While using less energy is always laudable, most households could make more of an impact by switching to more efficient ways of heating and cooling their home, like a heat pump,” says Joe Vukovich, an energy efficiency advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council. While refrigerators “used to be massively inefficient in the ’70s and ’80s, their energy efficiency has increased dramatically since then,” and continues to improve, he says. Many stores will also recycle old refrigerators, and some utility companies offer incentives for retiring older models. Also, just using your fridge differently can make a difference, Vukovich says: Opening the door less frequently, for example, saves energy. “I don’t want to say there’s no room for improvement, but the story of more environmentally BEBETO MATTHEWS / ASSOCIATED PRESS friendly refrigerators is a massive success story,” Vukovich says. Josh Spodek shows the empty refrigerator in his Greenwich VilStill, Spodek notes that refrigeralage apartment he ditched to support his effort to live sustaintors are typically on nonstop: “If evably on Tuesday Jan. 24, 2023, in New York. eryone could live without a fridge Being a vegan without the need quickly if you’re not careful,” says for, say, two weeks over the course Frank Talty, founder and president to refrigerate meat or dairy prodof the year, it would save an exof the New York-based Refrigeraucts certainly helps. traordinary amount of power.” Skeptics — and there are many And they might learn something. tion Institute, which trains stu— point out that going without a Beyond the energy savings, dents to install and service Spodek — who works as an execurefrigerators and air conditioners. refrigerator requires near-daily food shopping. For those with large tive coach, teaches leadership as When he first unplugged his families or who need to drive to get an adjunct professor at New York fridge, Spodek says, “I honestly wasn’t sure I could survive a week groceries, more frequent shopping University, and blogs and podcasts trips could cancel out the energy without it. I didn’t really have a about his experiences — says that plan for how I would get by without savings. Not to mention, the incon- going fridge-free has improved his one. But I figured it wouldn’t kill quality of life. He buys fresh provenience would be untenable for me, and I could always plug it in most. duce at farmers markets, receives again.” Also, improvements to fridges boxes of produce from a farm co-
operative (CSA, or community-supported agriculture), keeps a stock of dried beans and grains, and has become adept at some fermentation techniques. He cooks with an electric pressure cooker and, very rarely, a toaster oven, powering them with a portable solar panel and battery pack. Since he lives in a city apartment, that means schlepping the panel and battery pack up (and down) 11 flights of stairs a couple of times a day to the roof of his building. It’s an exercise he describes as “almost spiritual.” When he’s climbing the stairs, he says, he thinks about people around the world who live without modern amenities. Without a refrigerator, he also has learned to cook better and use a wider variety of seasonal produce. “In the winter, it’s just beets and carrots and potatoes and onions, plus dried beans and grains. I realized that that’s how cuisine happens. You take what you have and you make it taste good,” he says. “And now I just have to eat what I buy before it goes bad, or pickle it so it lasts a bit longer.” Other aspects of his efforts to live more sustainably: Spodek says he has not taken out the trash since 2019 (he hasn’t produced enough non-compostable, nonrecyclable waste to fill it yet) and hasn’t flown since 2016 (his parents live nearby). While it might not change the world if one person consumes a bit less power by unplugging their fridge, Spodek notes that, as with the Zero Waste movement, “What I do does matter.”