Last week, I promised to start a series on alternative energy, but then my washer broke (the same day, incidentally, that the toilet backed up and my car overheated, but that's another story). So today, instead of writing about alternative energy, I digress briefly to discuss energy efficiency, specifically as it relates to laundry. You can thank me later. In the meantime, here is everything I've learned from countless hours of Internet surfing in search of the perfect laundry machines.
For starters, you can do a lot to reduce your energy usage with the pair you already have. Since about 85% of the energy used by washing machines goes into heating the water (the remainder goes mostly to running the motor), the logical first step is to reduce your hot water usage.
- If you haven't done so already, set you water heater back from 140° F to 120°F. The reduction will save you about 8% on your overall water-heating bill and reduce the likelihood of getting a nasty scalding, besides.
- Use the coldest water possible to get clean clothes. Realistically, that is cold or warm water for everything except the grimiest work clothes. For many organic stains (blood and baby messes, for example) a cold water wash will actually prevent the stain from setting. Also, presoak a dirty load rather than wash it twice.
- Always use cold water for rinsing (my mother and I have an ongoing feud here: she religiously uses warm water rinses (which aren't even a setting on many washers) claiming that the warm wet clothes dry more quickly and thereby require less energy from the dryer. I point out that this works only if you get the clothes immediately from the washer to the dryer and even then you have to compare the cost of heating the water versus heating the air…).
- Wash large loads (it is more efficient to wash a single large load than two half-size ones) and if you must wash a small load, make sure to use the lowest water level setting possible.
- Put your clothes into the washer first, then fill it, so that less water is used (I have done this even with powder detergents and have never had a problem with the soap not dissolving).
- Line drying your clothes give you wrinkle-free clothes as well as visible savings on your electricity bill (e.g., we saved $50/month while living in upstate New York just by line drying the majority of our clothes).
The copyright of the article The Energy It Takes to Do Laundry in Conservation is owned by . Permission to republish The Energy It Takes to Do Laundry in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
