How Refrigeration Works:
To grasp the energy implications of refrigeration systems it helps to have a clear understanding of how these systems work, how they go about creating temperatures low enough to cool and freeze.
The diagram below illustrates a typical mechanical vapour-compression refrigeration system. Such systems include several key pieces of hardware:

a compressor
a condenser
an expansion or throttling device such as the TX valve shown
an evaporator
There is also, of course, a refrigerant fluid that …