Should you want to dispose off your refrigerator, DO remove the door completely as a safeguard against small children being trapped inside the refrigerator. This is not a joke, it has happened in the past! refrigerators consumed more energy than any other home appliance[citation needed], but in the last 20 years progress has been made to design, manufacture, and encourage the sale of refrigerators with improved energy efficiency. In the early 1990s a competition was held among the major manufacturers to encourage energy efficiency.