Earlier this summer, I realized that--hello!--our electric dryer is a big energy suck. So I bought a drying rack at Bed, Bath & Beyond for $9.99, and I've been air-drying about a quarter of our laundry. I've also been combining more loads.
Jury is still out on whether this change will cut our PG&E bills. And I'll probably never know how to account for the energy that went into creating, shipping and buying the drying rack (which was made in China under who-knows-what labor conditions). Bottom line: this may be little more than a feel-good action.
You may want to look into spin dryers. Spin dryers are a simple yet practical way to dramatically lower your clothes drying costs. Spin dryers are over 100 times more energy-efficient than conventional tumble dryers. They only use about 300 watts, whereas tumble dryers often use close to 5000 watts. The average household with a tumble dryer uses spends about $80 per year to dry the clothes, a figure
that can be reduced dramatically with the use of a spin dryer.
Spin dryers use an extremely fast spin cycle to remove much more water from the clothes than a washing machine spin cycle. Our model has a 3200 rpm spin speed, compared to the average washing machine spin cycle of 450-500 rpm. In
addition, spin dryers are much gentler on your clothes and don't produce any lint. As a result, clothes will last longer.
You can read more about our Spin Dryer at http://www.laundry-alternative.com/drying.htm.
You can also read independent reviews at
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/11/portable_spin_d.php &
http://www.productdose.com/article.php?article_id=4816
Posted by: laundry man | February 28, 2007 at 02:19 AM