Every month, we add energy to our carbon footprint by the way we clean our laundry. The average household adds over 2,000 pounds of CO2 to the atmosphere to dry their clothing, and about 7 percent of the average American home’s energy goes to running the washing machine (this doesn’t include the energy needed to heat water). Our water heaters add an additional 13 to 17 percent to annual energy bills!
We can all employ some carbon reduction strategies in the laundry room to reduce the impact we have on the planet when we clean our textiles at home. Some simple, and cost-effective solutions make this one area that’s easy to green-up.
Carbon Reduction Made Easy in the Laundry Room
Here are some low-cost, easy things you can do to reduce your carbon footprint in the laundry room. Once you develop these habits, the changes won’t seem onerous at all.
- Wash in cold water: 90 percent of the energy used when running a load of laundry goes to heating the water, so you can significantly cut the per-load energy consumption simply by changing the dial from hot to cold. Just be sure to use laundry detergent that is formulated to work in cold water.
- Air-dry laundry: This is by far the cheapest, and most effective way to save money when drying your laundry. Get a clothesline for indoors or outdoors depending on your climate and get into the habit of hanging everything rather than using your dryer. If you’re worried about stiff clothing, you can hang your laundry to dry most of the way, and then pop it into the dryer for the last bit of drying to fluff it up. If every US household air-dried just one load of laundry, we could shut down 15 nuclear power plants.
- Turn down water heater temperature: Since so much per-load energy goes into heating water, you can save energy on those loads that you have to use warm/hot water for by reducing the temperature on your water heater’s thermostat. Most find that a temperature of 120°F is completely sufficient for all hot water needs throughout the home.
- Energy-efficient drying habits: How you use your dryer will also affect the amount of energy you use. Save energy by drying full loads rather than partial loads. Use the permanent press setting which uses cool air at the end of the cycle. And always, always empty the lint trap before popping in a new load to keep your machine functioning at peak efficiency.