Who wants some iFridge/iOven when the equipment made in the 60s was built to survive two zombies apocalypse and one nuclear war and won't connect to the internet for a firmware update.
Also the CIA can't hack your fridge so you get salmonella from your chicken because they have access to your shopping patterns from the super market.
Older appliances may cost more to run but it’s possible they pay themselves off by virtue of not having to re-buy them every few years.
Speculation, of course. I wonder if anyone’s done the math on this.
- energy loss in resource extraction and refinement (steel, aluminum, plastic, etc, etc)
- manufacturing energy use
- shipping energy use
- disposal energy costs of old device (including recycling costs)
- all the pollution in the above, versus pollution from local energy sources
It's entirely possible that an energy efficient fridge that lasts 2 years, could cost more energy than a fridge from the 60s that keeps on running.
So outside of "cash cost" even the energy cost may be higher!
Most new appliances seem to be replacing perfectly functional but outdated appliances in my experience helping people move them. The exception being washers and dryers, but they tend to get mistreated by the owners so it's reasonable that they have a shorter life.
Of course, this was almost a decade ago, so the numbers might have changed; and a newer device would have an automatic defroster.
Not sure you can buy one like anymore.
Most of my appliances were bought recently, none has anything like this.