Lighten Up by Air-Drying your Laundry

There’s no better time than the summer to develop this green living habit: air-drying your laundry! The sunshine, warm breezes and fresh air make hanging your laundry to dry in the great outdoors a fun and refreshing experience.

Not surprisingly, running the dryer in your laundry will be costing you energy with every use. In fact, the average American home will run up a $135 electricity bill for operating the dryer every year. Think of the money you could save by choosing a less-polluting method of getting your clothes dry!

One of the reasons dryers use relatively high amount of energy is because the industry isn’t really doing much to improve their efficiency. ENERGY STAR, a program by the US Environmental Protection Agency to spur energy efficiency improvements in American products, will certify all types of home appliances like dishwashers, washing machines, and refrigerators, but they do not certify dryers!

As a result, those who use their dryers exclusively for drying their laundry are contributing a relatively large amount of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere—over 2,000 pounds every year, on average.

Drying your laundry without your dryer is relatively simple. First, get yourself a sturdy drying rack. There are many models on the market today—from ceiling-hung options (to save space for indoors, and ideal for apartment-dwellers) to folding dryers that can be used indoor or outdoors to permanently-installed rotary dryers for outdoors only. Each one has advantages and disadvantages, so choose the model that’s right for your climate and your home.

Those living in dry climates will appreciate the added moisture that drying laundry indoors affords (this method is cheaper than running a humidifier!). But if you live in an already humid climate, you can speed the process of drying clothing indoors by putting your washing machine on the highest spin speed to squeeze as much water out of it as possible.

If you’re concerned about fading your laundry by hanging it in the sun, there’s an easy solution! Simply turn your clothing inside out to protect the exposed side of your fabrics from the fading effects of the sun.

Amazingly, if every US household chose to dry just one load of clothes without the dryer, we’d be able to save enough energy to close down 15 nuclear power plants! So get fresh and dry your clothes the lighter way—with only air.

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