Don't leave that fridge by the curb!

I saw a television out on our street a couple of mornings ago when I left for my morning job/walk, waiting for pick-up by the garbage dudes. I resisted the urge to narc on my neighbors, since it's actually illegal to place said TVs curbside in New Jersey, but it did remind me of this rather fun information that I received a couple of weeks ago from Southern California Edison (SCE) about another mega-appliance that's really hard to get rid of -- your refrigerator.

If you're lucky enough to live in SCE's service area, the company will pay you $50 for your old refrigerator, which is one of the biggest energy wasters you can find in any home. It will also give you a $50 rebate toward buying one that it Energy Star-rated.

The utility estimates that refrigerators account for about 18 percent of the electricity used in a typical California home. What's more, a pre-Energy Star model that was bought before 1993 can use up to 50 percent more than their descendants do. SCE estimates that recycling an old refrigerator will prevent the release of approximately 60 pounds of carbon dioxide and save enough electricity to power an average house for up to 45 days. By the way, did you know a full refrigerator uses less power than an empty one? Another argument against living takeout-to-takeout.

So far, SCE has collected 700,000 refrigerators and freezers, and it expects to collect and recycle about 80,000 more.

Anyone else out there know of a program like this?