You want to build a basement wine cellar for the convenience, but you are reluctant to build it because it seems like an extravagance. Guess what: a home wine cellar is actually a green alternative! That’s right: building a basement wine cellar helps the environment!
Refrigerator Wine Coolers
Before I built my wine cellar, I had two wine coolers, or refrigerators. The motor to cool the units ran virtually none stop, just like happens with your kitchen refrigerator. Obviously they were using a lot of energy.
With my basement wine cellar cooling unit, the unit only runs for perhaps five minutes every hour, often less. Obviously one small unit running for five minutes per hour uses less energy than two refrigerators running none stop. Even better, my wine cellar can hold 1,200 bottles, as compared to under 300 for more two wine fridges. That’s an obvious energy saving.
Why the difference? I’m not an engineer, but I assume it’s due to the fact that, once the wine cellar reaches the optimal temperature, the 1,000 bottles store the coolness, which keeps the cellar cool. Also, the wine cellar has far better insulation than a wine refrigerator, which helps to maintain the temperature.
Other than great insulation, and keeping the door closed, I have two other energy saving tips.
First, keep your wine cellar full. The more wine you have, the more mass you have to retain the temperature. If you can’t fill your wine cellar with wine, store pop, beer, vegetables or anything else to help retain the heat.
Second, during the coldest days of winter, half fill plastic jugs with water, and leave them outside overnight to freeze. Then, bring them into your wine cellar during the day. They will absorb heat while they cool, which saves energy. In effect you are bringing the cold air from outside into your wine cellar. That’s free air conditioning, and that’s using winter to your advantage.
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