This Refrigerator Uses Zero Energy And Is Underground

The Groundfridge is exactly what it sounds like: a fridge in the ground. And it looks like a subterranean holding cell that some style-conscious kidnapper might keep his or her mole people in. When buried, it looks like a mound with a door, like the home of a hobbit.

According to Co. Exist, the Groundfridge's purpose is to store surplus produce at harvest time, which is ideal for serious home gardeners. The underground storage unit acts like a root cellar in maintaining a cool 50° to 54°F, meaning you can also store anything that belongs in a dry, cool environment, like cheese, wine and beer.

"It combines temperature from the air outside with the temperature of the soil in an ideal cellar temperature inside the Groundfridge," Akke Bink, one of the Groundfridge creators, told Co. Exist.

Created by Weltevree, a Dutch design company, the fridge is made from fiberglass and features a staircase that descends into a shelf-lined spherical chamber and a door with a rubber seal to keep your produce rain- and bug-free. Because of its size — it's 20 times the size of an average European refrigerator (15 times the size of the average American refrigerator) — Bink suggests that an excavator may be needed for installation.

Another plus? It doesn't need electricity to operate. And hey, if you get locked into one of these, you probably won't starve to death before somebody decides to look for you.

The fridge is currently only available in the Netherlands and Belgium for $10,000. The company plans to make these Groundfridges global by the end of 2016. For more information, check out the video below.