The Impact of User Behavior Based on Energy-Saving Potential of Refrigerators: A Combined Survey and Experimental Analysis with Reference to China

Considering the challenges of increasing global energy scarcity and intensifying environmental problems, energy conservation in end-use energy-consuming products has become critical. In this study, we focused on household refrigerators and analyzed the individual characteristics, energy-saving awareness, and usage behaviors of Chinese refrigerator users; discussed the influence of individual characteristics and energy-saving awareness of users on refrigerator usage behavior; and evaluated the energy-saving potential with improved user behavior. The results showed that the energy-saving awareness or usage behavior of refrigerator users requires adjustment and improvement to avoid significant energy wastage. Additionally, a strong correlation was found between education, product energy efficiency level selection, age, and user behavior. Optimizing purchase choices among existing refrigerator energy efficiency grades would result in a national energy-saving potential of up to 9.31 × 10 10 kW·h annually, whereas adjusting the door opening frequency and duration of some users could achieve annual energy savings of 6.14 × 10 10 kW·h and 4.47 × 10 10 kW·h, respectively. This study comprehensively evaluated the energy-saving potential of refrigerators from two aspects: market research and laboratory quantitative analysis. The results highlight that the government, enterprises, and individuals should pay attention to the energy-saving potential of refrigerators and actively take effective measures to promote the realization of the “dual carbon” goal.