This paper describes the Department of Energy`s (DOE) method of forecasting the energy efficiency of refrigerator-freezer designs. DOE uses an engineering computer simulation model to forecast the impact of incorporating various design options on the energy consumption of refrigerator-freezers. Included in the discussion are the design parameters needed to perform the calculations accurately and the variables providing the most significant impacts. An evaluation of the model`s sensitivity and accuracy compared to actual performance of models in production is presented, as is a discussion of how the various combinations of improvements predict the efficiency of the refrigerator-freezer design.

KEYWORDS: calculating, refrigerators, freezers, designing, energy conservation, efficiency, energy consumption, models, performance.