A life-cycle assessment of household refrigerators in China

China is an important refrigerator producer and consumer in the world. The refrigerator industry is an important contributor to China's economy; however, it also impacts the environment negatively. To improve the sustainability of Chinese refrigerators, it is necessary to evaluate their environmental impacts throughout their life cycles and identify improvement opportunities. This study provides a cradle-to-grave life-cycle assessment of a direct-cooling double-door household refrigerator. Inventory data are obtained from onsite investigations of refrigerator producers and disposal enterprises. Environmental impacts are evaluated using the CML 2001 method built into GaBi (version 6.0). The results show that the environmental impacts of 11 categories are relatively high in the usage phase, and four types of environmental impacts (ODP, TETP, ADP-elements, and ADP-fossil) are also high during the production phase. The hotspots in the life cycle of a refrigerator have been identified as electricity consumption in the usage phase and the consumption of material resources (such as steel) and natural gas in the assembly phase. This quantitative life cycle assessment helps decision-makers to understand the life-cycle environmental impacts of Chinese refrigerators and improve its sustainability.