Laundry
Potential Savings: $200 per year (Based on replacing a top-loading washing machine with a front loader and switching to cold-water washing) Washing Machines 1% of Domestic Electricity Use The washing machine is probably the most labour-saving domestic appliance. Scrubbing clothing on a washboard is tedious and time-wasting. Apart from the odd, hand-wash item, even people who do not own a washing machine will use a laundromat rather than wash clothes by hand. For well over ½ a century, all washing machines have used water-filled tubs in which clothing is agitated. The tub usually holds 70-100 litres of water. To heat and to move this weight of water plus clothing takes a lot of energy.
Front-Loading Washing Machines
About 25 years ago, the front-loading washing machine appeared in Europe. Their horizontal tubs hold 15-40 litres of water. The tub rotates clothes out of the water, allowing them to drop back in. This motion is regularly reversed to prevent tangling. Because less water is used, and little water moves with the clothing, energy consumption is reduced. Also, less detergent is required – much less in some models.
A big advantage of the front loader is high spin speed. Water is thrown centrifugally out of the clothing – doubling speed gives 4 times the force, leaving clothing much drier. Final drying then needs less heat. If you live in a “hard water” area, these machines also leave less mineral residue in clothing.
European front loaders rinse 4-6 times. At 15-20 litres each, 5 rinses use as much water as one in a top loader, but leave much less soapy residue. This is important to people with detergent allergies. Front loaders use 15%-50% less water than top loaders. If your water is metered, that will save money. Front loaders are so good that top loaders vanished from Europe by 1980!
If a front loader uses about 750kWh less electricity than a top loader, at $0.10 per kWh, you should save $75 per year. With a mid-range machine at $1000, it would take 13 years to recover its cost. However, savings are also seen on drying, water and detergent. You can count on saving at least $50 per year on drying (below), bringing the payback to 8 years.
It may not make financial sense to rush out and buy a new washing machine, but it does make sense to choose a front loader when replacing your old unit. This is particularly true as there is no systematic price difference between the two types. Although European models (eg: Bosch, Miele, Asko) are more expensive than domestic brands, they claim to use even less water and power. This claim may be true because electricity and water have always cost more in Europe, and European manufacturers have had 20 years more experience with this type of machine.
Detergent 29% of Canadians routinely use a cold water wash now
Potential Savings: $150 per year
(Based on 6 loads of laundry per week using 80 litres of 65oC water for each load, electrically heated – changing to cold water washing)
Detergent performance has improved markedly. One performance factor is its ability to work well in cold water. Cold water detergents are now widely available. A cold water detergent will save the energy used to heat water – a cheap way to reduce energy bills, and may even let you machine-wash wool!
Driers 12% of Domestic Electricity Use
Potential Savings: $501-$652 per year
(Based on using a front-loading washing machine spin-drying loads at (1) 800rpm, or (2) 1500rpm, compared to top-loader spinning at 500rpm)
The drier has become a standard companion to the washing machine. It uses heat to evaporate water from wet clothing. The air is usually electrically heated. Gas driers are available and cheaper to operate. However, they are slightly more expensive to buy and far more so to install – a gas outlet costs $200 to install, while the electric machine just plugs in.
There have been some gains in drier efficiency. However, there is a limit to what can be achieved because water still needs to be evaporated, and there is no way to reduce the energy needed for that.
The only possible improvement is to accurately time the drying process. Older driers were controlled by a timer, which operated the machine for a pre-set time. Unless one regularly checked the clothing, the machine would normally be run longer than required to ensure dryness.
Modern machines either sense how moist the clothing is, or monitor the humidity of the exhaust air. The volume of air and heat are adjusted to make the drying process as efficient as possible.
There is no information available on the energy use of older driers, but expect them to use around 15%-20% more than modern machines. If you were in the habit of checking the clothes in your drier, a modern machine may save you little – but it would free you to leave the house…
As mentioned above under washing machines, the biggest reduction in laundry energy use you can make is to ensure that your clothing contains less water before you start drying. A washing machine with a high spin speed will throw more water out of the load, leaving less to evaporate.
Most modern clothes driers are rated at between 900kWh and 1000kWh per year. That is between $90 and $100 per year at $0.10 per kWh.
Clothes Drying and Humidification
In winter, when Canadian houses tend to be very dry, it is silly to blow the warm, moist drier air out of the house. This air should be left inside, avoiding the need to run a humidifier. This can be done with a special filter attachment that intercepts the air exhaust of your drier, and can be switched to direct the air outside or inside. This should only be used if your drier is located in an area that vents well into the rest of your house, to avoid creating a rain-forest-like laundry room. Alternatively, one could hang clothes on a line inside the house, using the warmth of the house to dry them.
If the above is not done, then one wastes energy – evaporating water from clothing and exhausting the moisture, and then evaporating moisture again via a humidifier to improve indoor comfort!
Save energy and do both together, using the same energy source!