Costs of Alternatives for Running Fridge

There is one question I have, the price of propane seems a little high - at least in rural northern NV.  Seems like last time I bought it the price was about $2.25 a gallon or something around there.  That puts the cost on par with shore power more or less.

And, a comment:  You left off my wind turbine idea.  I know it's new and novel, but, but, 

And, why doesn't someone invent a cold fusion generator or a perpetual motion machine that defies the first law of thermodynamics.  After all laws are there to be broken.  

great write up and comparison.. remember to "run the fridge on solar", there is going to be some cost in a large enough storage solution to get you through the night at least, and a solar array big enough to top it off even on not so sunny days...

I would submit that the electrons used while towing are nearly as free as the ones used while on solar.. the truck is going to make those, whether you use them to run the fridge or not. Modern alternators don't have near as much parasitic drag as old ones, or, if you are as old as me.. generators..

Also, here at least propane is 2.21 a gallon for refills. Don't ever exchange if you don't need a recertified bottle.

also.. as a side side note, never use those 1 pound cylinders of propane unless you have to carry them in a backpack or something.. They work out to being about $80 for the same amount of propane in a 20 pound cylinder, which can be refilled for about $12... in 2 refills you will pay for any and all hoses and connectors possibly needed to run on the Pod's onboard low pressure, or from a stand alone 20 pouinder at high pressure.

I was enjoying the debate on what energy source to use to run our fridges. So, nerd that I am, I thought I'd add another dimension to it. This table gives an estimate of the daily fridge run costs under various scenarios. I am NOT getting into the debate about the safety of driving with propane or not. This is strictly about costs. 

Ranked from cheapest to most expensive. Solar is "free" if you have extra because you've already made the investment. So if you're boondocking and have a sunny day with excess solar, consider switching your fridge over to 12V for awhile. Grid electricity is "free" as well if you've already made the decision to pay for hookups for other reasons.  Even if you're paying for it its still the cheapest after using your excess solar. This was based on US average electricity costs, it gets really close to propane though in high electricity cost states.  

What's interesting to me is that propane is cheaper than 12V from the TV even while driving. That's because the first law of thermodynamics says there ain't no free lunch, the extra load on your alternator running your fridge while driving will cause you to burn more gas.

Then come the various genny based electric operations, avoid those for sure. And the worst is to run the fridge on 12V from your TV, an astounding $7 bucks plus per day because of all the wasted fuel idling.