Blame Canada
Apparently we Canuckistani beer lovers are a real threat to the planet.
The government-commissioned study says the old, inefficient "beer fridges" that one in three Canadian households use to store their Molson and Labatt's contribute significantly to global warming by guzzling gas- and coal-fired electricity.
And you just have to love the way the "serious" news folks at Fox report such a story.
The problem is that the beer fridges are mostly decades-old machines that began their second careers as beverage dispensers when Canadians upgraded to more energy-efficient models to store whatever Canadians eat besides doughnuts and poutine.
The story does actually provide a link to the New Scientist article it bases the above tripe on, though that article notes the beer fridge is something of a North American and Australian phenomena, rather than just a Canadian one.
Basically, despite the ridiculous manner in which it is getting reported, these old fridges are a serious source of energy consumption, if a damned convenient thing to have in the garage for get-togethers.
It's just so nice to see a serious environmental story turned into an excuse to make fun of a Canadian caricature. News reporting at its finest.
