New Delhi, Aug. 13 -- Refrigerator is a long-term investement and you only replace it when something goes seriously wrong with it. If it is cooling properly, the doors still seal and there are no major repair bills, there is little reason to spend thousands on a new one. I followed the same approach for nearly 10 years, sticking with the refrigerator I already had rather than worrying about newer models or energy savings.

But refrigerators have changed considerably over the past decade. Newer models come with inverter compressors, better temperature control and improved energy efficiency, making me wonder how much electricity my old refrigerator was actually consuming compared with a newer one.

So, I finally replaced my 10-year-old refr...