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12 Laundry Tips for Maximum Energy Savings
Adapted from Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings, by Alex Wilson, Jennifer Thorne, and John Morrill
There are a number of easy ways to save energy with laundry, whether you’re buying new appliances or not.
Follow these suggestions whenever possible to keep energy use to a minimum.
1. Use lower temperature settings. Use warm or cold water for the wash cycle instead of hot (except for greasy stains), and only use cold for rinses. Experiment with different laundry detergents to find one that works well with cooler water. By presoaking heavily soiled clothes, a cooler wash temperature may be fine. The temperature of the rinse water does not affect cleaning, so always set the washing machine on cold water rinse.
2. Turn down the thermostat on your water heater. A setting of 120 F is adequate for most home needs. By reducing your hot water temperature, you will save energy with either hot or warm wash cycles.
3. Load the washing machine to capacity when possible. Most people tend to underload rather than overload their washers. Check your machine’s load capacity in pounds, then weigh out a few loads of laundry to get a sense of how much laundry 10 or 18 to 20 pounds represents. Then use your eye to judge the volume of clothes for a load. Washing one large load will take less energy than washing two loads on a low or medium setting.
4. If washing lightly soiled clothes, use the suds-saving feature if it’s available on your washing machine. This saves the was water to be reused in the next load. Only use this feature, though, if the second load is to be washed right away.
5. When drying, separate your clothes and dry similar types of clothes together. Lightweight synthetics, for example, dry much more quickly than bath towels and natural fiber clothes.
6. Don’t overdry clothes. Take clothes out while they are still slightly damp to reduce the need for ironing - another big energy user. If your dryer has a setting for auto-dry, be sure to use it instead of the timer to avoid wasting energy.
7. Don’t add wet items to a load that is already partially dried.
8. Dry two or more loads in a row, taking advantage of the heat still in the dryer from the first load.
9. Clean the dryer filter after each use. A clogged filter will restrict flow and reduce dryer performance.
10. Dry full loads when possible, but be careful not to overfill the dryer. Drying small loads wastes energy. Air should be able to circulate freely around the drying clothes.
11. Check the outside dryer exhaust vent. Make sure it is clean and that the flapper on the outside hood opens and closes freely.
12. In good weather, consider hanging clothes outside and using totally free solar energy to do the drying.
More from Annie B. Bond (3247 articles available)
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22 comments
add your comment »Great advice, thank you!
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I love hanging clothes!
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I once read something in an email of tips. Quite often tips were hoaxes but this one was easy to try so I did and it was true.
If you use dryer fabric softener sheets, it doesn't take long for a residue to build up and clog the vent holes in the filter. It is invisible. Run water on the filter and if the water doesn't run through the holes but pools up, then you know it's clogged. Scrub it clean once in a while and your dryer will work better and the heating element won't burn out so quickly.
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Adam H, http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf529310.tip.html
I was told to wash it once a month, but then again, I have a family of seven.
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Does anyone know the mixture ,using vineger and ???to put a crease in pants. It really makes the crease last longer Thanks`
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Anyone heard of putting the "lint screen" in the dish washer? Supposidely the screen can get "clogged" - in a way it makes sense, because the screen IS kind of thin, and those holes are kinda small, and I read somewhere it's a good idea to throw it in the dishwasher once or twice a year depending on use....
I'd think the "savings" of "ultra cleaning" this lint screen would be minimal....and something like vacuuming out the exhaust pipe of the dryer/vent would be a lot more productive though? :)
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I use BioKleen concentrated wonderful smelling detergent and only use 1/2 of the recommended for each load, using cold water, and it does wonderfully! I usually add a tiny bit of borax and use white vinegar in my Downy ball for the rinse cycle. Then I hang up everything but jeans and towels on a retractible clothes line I found at Home depot for about $12. It has 4 peices of line and is about 15 feet long. I installed it on the wall behind the door to my laundry room up as high as I could reach and then extended it across the room and hooked it on the opposite wall. Now I just put the shirts on hangers and hang from the line, hang other things up with with clothes pins and it will all dry by the next day. I absolutely love doing it this way...easier on my clothing and i have cut my electric bill by almost 50% by doing this and not using my dishwasher! It is not as hot in the house either since I am not running the dryer.
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I do not even possess a dryer but apart from drying the washing outside which is in our inclement weather in Scotland comparitively rare I use good old-fashioned clothes horses. I have 4 in 3 different sizes, shapes and open-out possibilities and even for 4 people in the house for years it works excellently. You do a wash a day on average and in the winter with heating on, certainly overnight, it dries very well by sometime next day depending on the thickness of the item. In the summer the general air temperature is warmer anyway and you can dry things over 24 hours. Sooooo not only am I saving energy it also costs me a lot less in monetary terms. You will have to iron certain items of course, like shirts ie. but by my reckoning that whole method still uses less energy/ money than using a dryer in the first place. Scientists - prove me wrong with an experiment please :-) .
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USING BIO FUELS IN AUTOMOBILE LEADS TO REDUCTION O POLLUTION CONTENT
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Love all these comments! Another idea is to take a break from your washing machine either all the time or once in a while. You can go the really cheap route and get a big bucket and plunger or go the $50 route and go to www.Lehmans.com and get a Galvanized Wash Tub and Rapid Washer. Washing your clothes by hand can be done quickly and allows you the control over water temperature and how rough you wash your batch. Lehmans has washboards, various types of clotheslines and more "high tech" handwashing tools. Enjoy!
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