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This thesis consists of the study of reducing the overuse of technology in a modern household for a healthier lifestyle. “The kitchen is the most important and expensive room in any household.” - Dan Harel. It has many appliances and even though not always really appreciated, it does have technologically advanced gadgets. These gadgets were designed for convenient cooking and effective kitchen time usage. One such appliance which has gained tremendous appreciation is the refrigerator. The refrigerator in general has undergone change over time and has evolved. Initially, satisfying the basic need of food storage and preservation to now satiating psychological and societal status, it has come a long way. Terra – The Earthen Refrigerator was designed as a modern take on the traditional evaporative cooling technique. It is a refrigerator that does not require electricity, is sustainable and environment friendly. It encourages the user to eat freshly cooked meals by storing less in quantity which leads to less wastage of food products. It also promotes frequent restocking which enables the user to buy local which promotes local businesses.

This study was conducted to evaluate three currently popular two-phase pressure drop models for extremely low velocity refrigerant flow through smooth circular evaporators in household refrigeration systems. Experimental data was taken at mass fluxes under 70 kg/m2s for two refrigerants, R134A and R600A, internal diameters of aluminum evaporators ranging from 0.186 to 0.317 inches, U-bend internal radii ranging from 0.342 to 0.750 inches in horizontal and vertical orientations of evaporators. The geometry of the samples closely resembled a commonly used serpentine shape with multiple U-bends experiencing both, up- and down-flow of the refrigerant. Two empirical models, Müller-Steinhagen & Heck (1986) and Grönnerud (1979), as well as one phenomenological model, Silva Lima & Thome (2012), were compared to experimental data and all performed very well for horizontally oriented samples. However, in vertical orientation only 60.6 %, 63.3 % and 75.8 % data fell within ± 30 % accuracy band for Grönnerud, Silva Lima & Thome and Müller-Steinhagen & Heck correlations, respectively. The predicted values showed what steps could be taken to improve the performance of all models, which could be accomplished with future work.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency has used environmental information provision as a policy tool to take advantage of consumer preferences for products that meet higher environmental standards. Such environmental programs include a variety of policies ranging from eco-labeling programs to voluntary environmental agreements between governments and manufacturers. This study analyzes the effects of two such programs - the ENERGY STAR program, an eco-labeling program, and the Climate Leaders program, a voluntary environmental agreement program - on consumer preferences for a household appliance. The study estimates consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for the two programs and examines factors that motivate WTP. A particular interest for the ENERGY STAR program is in determining how the offer of a mail-in rebate affects these preferences. Data used for this study was collected from an online survey conducted in the United States during March and April, 2009. Conditional and random parameter logit models, with product attributes only and with demographic and other individual characteristics as interaction terms, are used to analyze the data. Findings from this study imply that consumers are willing to pay a premium equivalent to a significant portion of the purchase prices for the products approved by either program. Also, it is found that consumers who are more concerned about environmental issues, such as global climate change, and who have confidence in the effects of collective action, are more likely to engage in the purchase of such environmentally friendly products. These results should help government agencies and manufacturers evaluate the effectiveness of environmental information provision programs.

Voluntary environmental labeling or certification programs provide information about the environmental characteristics of one or more aspects of a product’s life cycle to consumers. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy were among the first governmental agencies in the world to adopt environmental information programs. This study examines two U.S. programs – Energy Star, an energy efficiency labeling program, and Green Power Partnership (GPP), a green energy purchasing program, and estimates how much consumers are willing to pay for refrigerators that have been awarded these labels and what factors motivate that willingness to pay. The data were obtained from a survey conducted in March and April of 2009 via an online research panel, which was constructed to be representative of the U.S. population. Analysis of the data was conducted using conditional logit regression models with fixed parameters and mixed logit regression models with random parameters. Results revealed that consumers, on average, have a willingness to pay ranging from $237.81 to $350.54 for the Energy Star label and a willingness to pay ranging from $48.52 to $70.95 for the GPP label. The results also indicate that consumer demographics and attitudes influence WTP. In particular, individuals with greater levels of stated concern for the environment or individuals exhibiting strong perceptions on the effectiveness of consumers to affect product design and the ambient environment had a greater likelihood of choosing a labeled alternative, and thus, a greater WTP for both the Energy Star and GPP label. To manufacturers and government regulators, these results suggest that energy labels can play a significant role in a consumer’s decision making process when selecting a new appliance.