Advice About Frosty Appliances

Hey Mr. Green,

I'm shopping around for a more efficient refrigerator. Since I could probably do without a freezer, I'm wondering what would be most efficient: a fridge-only model, a freezer-only model with the thermostat turned way up, a one-door cooler-and-freezer unit, or a two-door unit with the freezer on top.

--Jerry in South Ozone Park, New York

Thanks to toughened federal regulations, modern refrigerators use less than half as much energy as those made 15 years ago. The best place to find the most-efficient models for little or big chills is the EPA's Energy Star site. Simply type in the size and style you're looking for and voila, you get a list of refrigerators that are 10 to 30 percent more efficient than the government's already-strict standard. You'll quickly learn that side-by-side freezer-fridge models are the least efficient. Because freezers are set up to keep things, well, frozen, it might seem like a dicey proposition to turn one into a box to keep your veggies fresh and your beer cool.

However, I found one adventurous tinkerer who rigged his freezer to use a meager 50 kilowatt-hours per year--a fraction of what even the stingiest fridge consumes. He says he accomplished this by replacing the freezer thermostat with one that allows warmer temperatures. I don't recommend such engineering feats to my intelligent but predominantly thermostat-challenged audience, but in the interest of citizen science, I'll refer you to the innovator's findings.

Fishy Claims: Do Marine-Derived Omega-3s Hurt the Ocean?

Hey Mr. Green,

I've heard that omega-3 fatty-acid capsules contain oil from a bottom-dwelling fish that the big supplement companies are fishing into population collapse. Is there any truth to this?

--Eric in Scottsdale, Arizona

There's evidence that omega-3 might help prevent heart problems. Some proponents even claim it staves off dementia, which gives me hope.

But most of the critters used for omega-3 oil are not bottom dwellers; they're smaller fish like anchovies, sardines, mackerel, and menhaden. And if any species, bottom dweller or otherwise, is getting fished into extinction, it's not by the supplement manufacturers. The supplement makers obtain the oil as a byproduct of "reduction fishing"--fishing by outfits whose catch is processed into fish meal, which in turn is fed to farmed fish, chickens, and hogs. (The fact that we roam the seas to net fish to feed other fish and livestock strikes me as one of the screwier aspects of the food system. Why not just eat the smaller fish instead of the farmed salmon that has eaten them? And why not just give livestock homegrown feed?)

Most of the small species caught for fish meal and omega-3 oil aren't endangered, according to the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), but concern about overfishing has led 13 of the 15 Atlantic-coast states to either outlaw menhaden reduction fishing in their waters or ban the gear that's used for this purpose. Unfortunately, proposals to extend the ban on fishing menhaden for feed to all state and federal waters in the Atlantic have failed to get out of congressional committees.

Some fish-oil supplements haven't been adequately screened for mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), although the EDF found that most U.S. producers do remove these toxic substances. To be sure you're getting a safe brand, consult the group's list here.