How can i save energy in my laundry?

Published: 20th October 2011

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There are many ways to improve energy efficiency in the laundry. When it comes to upgrading or buying a new washing machine or clothes dryer, it pays to purchase an appliance that has the best energy and water star rating. Although such an appliance will typically cost more to purchase, when reviewing the running costs and the expected life of the appliance, the higher priced and higher star rating appliance will save energy and money over its lifetime. For example; a high performing 5 star (Energy) washing machine can cost on average $230 per year to run, while a cheaper 4 star (Energy) washing machine can cost on average $500 per year to run. That is a significant saving of $270 per year extra running costs for a cheaper and lower star rated appliance.

When seeking to improve the energy efficiency of existing appliances within your laundry, follow these simple tips whenever possible:
Use lower temperature settings. Use warm or cold water for the wash cycle instead of hot and only use cold for rinses. Experiment with different laundry detergents to find one that works well with cooler water. By pre-soaking heavily soiled clothes, a cooler wash temperature may be fine. The temperature of the rinse water does not affect cleaning, so always set the washing machine on cold water rinse.

Load the washing machine to capacity when possible. Most people tend to under load rather than overload their washers. Check your machine’s load capacity in kilograms, and then weigh out a few loads of laundry to get a sense of how much laundry 5, 8, to 10 kilograms represents. Then use your eye to judge the volume of clothes for a load. Washing one large load will take less energy than washing two loads on a low or medium setting.

Dry your clothes on the clothes line or clothes horse. If you need to uses clothes dryer, separate your clothes and dry similar types of clothes together. Lightweight synthetics, for example, dry much more quickly than bath towels and natural fibre clothes. Use Spin dryer (using the highest spin speed available) or pre-dry clothes to minimize the amount of water to be removed from them in a dryer. Drying on a medium setting instead of high heat setting saves energy (up to 10%), but extends drying time, if available select an auto-sense dryer that switches off when the clothes are dry.Clean the dryer filter after each use. A clogged filter will restrict flow and reduce dryer performance. Dry full loads when possible, but be careful not to overfill the dryer. Air should be able to circulate freely around the drying clothes.

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