Software like LG’s HomeChat will allow you to text your fridge from the grocery store for a virtual shopping list of what’s needed-and, just as importantly, what’s not, curbing unnecessary food purchases that significantly contribute to Americans throwing out 25 percent of the food they buy. Using new technologies, like internal cameras and weight sensors, fridges will take inventory of what’s on hand and send mobile alerts when you’re out of butter or running low on eggs. The future of the fridge is looking pretty chill. Heck, it might even make you a better cook. (What do you think a fridge and a toaster chat about all day?) By doing so, it will help you save energy and money and cut down on food waste, too. ![]() What does that mean, exactly? To put it simply, your fridge will talk-to you, to its manufacturer, to your utility company, and even to other appliances. ![]() Your future fridge will join the “ internet of things,” the world in which devices ( 25 billion by some estimates) interact with each other and a growing network of infrastructural systems. So what’s next for the old icebox? Environmental concerns, shifting demographics, and changes in how we shop, cook, and eat are driving a push for new technologies that will make tomorrow’s fridge greener, smarter, and, above all, more connected. The former energy hogs now use less than a quarter of the energy they did when efficiency standards took effect in the late 1970s, all while becoming bigger, cheaper, and more user-friendly. At least we hope so, as fridges are the great success story of appliance efficiency standards. As refrigerators go, so goes the kitchen.
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