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Clothes Washers

• Follow detergent instructions carefully. Adding too much detergent actually hampers effective washing action and may require more energy in the form of extra rinses.
• Set the washing machine temperature to cold or warm and the rinse temperature to cold as often as possible.
• Wash only full loads of clothing- but do not overload machine.
• Sort laundry and schedule washes so that a complete job can be done with a few cycles of the machine carrying its full capacity, rather than a greater number of cycles with light loads.

Buying Tips:

• Consider using a front-loading or horizontal axis washing machine.
• In terms of features, look for a clothes washer with several water level options (to adjust to different loads). Also, look for pre-soaking and suds-saver options.

Clothes Dryers

A typical home uses 360-1400 kiloWatt-hours per year with the clothes dryer. To become more energy efficient with your laundry, follow these tips:

• Hang your laundry outside when weather permits.
• Clean the lint filter thoroughly after each use.
• Dry towels and heavy cottons in a separate load from lighter-weight fabrics.
• Avoid over-drying. This not only wastes energy, but harms the fabric as well.

Buying Tip: Look for units with automated moisture sensors to reduce drying time.

Energy-Efficient Appliances for the Laundry Room

Horizontal Axis Clothes Washers

• Horizontal axis clothes washers (also known as "front loading washing machines") have been used in European homes for many years. However, the size of the washers was deemed too small for the American market (typically, one-half the size of a typical U.S. clothes washer).
• Now, several manufacturers are producing units that are as large as the typical vertical axis ("top loaders"), and provide more benefits, such as better cleaning and energy savings. According to a U.S. Department of Energy report done for a small town in Kansas, where 204 older washing machines were replaced with horizontal axis machines, people realized an average of 38 percent savings on water usage and 56 percent energy savings for the washer and hot water heating system.
• Some sample Web sites for products are shown below:
  • Asko USA information
  • Energy Star Clothes Washer information

Counter Top Microwave Clothes Dryers

• Just as microwave ovens dramatically changed the way many people cook or re-heat food, microwave clothes dryers may change the way people dry clothes after they are washed (or after they come in from the rain!). With a microwave clothes dryer, the microwave instantly heats the clothes, leading to quicker drying times. However, clothing with metal parts (such as zippers and metallic buttons) would not be suitable for this product.
• Current research is involved in creating a "secondary" dryer, much like the microwave oven is a "secondary" oven used for small amounts of food.
• Some Web sites that discuss the research and products are shown below:
  • Article on EPRI research from a utility newsletter
  • Article on microwave clothes dryers