Carbon Saved by not Using a Tumble Dryer
Of all our domestic appliances, tumble dryers are the most energy hungry, with power consumption ranging from around 2kWh to 5kWh per cycle. This can result in CO2 emissions of around 330 kg to over 800 kg per year.
So CO2 saved by not using a tumble dryer:
An average tumble dryer runs at over 3.5 kWh per cycle
Using our grid electricity carbon conversion factor of 0.545 kg CO2 emitted per kWh
The carbon output for one cycle is:
3.5 x 0.545 = 1.90 kg CO2 per cycle.
If we assume a tumble dryer might be used 4 times a week, the CO2 emitted in just one week would be nearly 7.6 kg or 396.7 kg per year (which is the same as a Nissan 4x4 taking a round trip journey from London to Aberdeen!)
According to National Statistics, 54% of households in the UK own a tumble dryer,
and there are 24.9 million households in the UK.
As a conservative estimate if we say 40% of households use a tumble dryer frequently, that is nearly 10 million households. If each household just didn't use their dryer once, it would save over 18 million kg (or over 18,000 tonnes) of CO2.
So if everyone in the UK who has a dryer did just one load less drying a year, we'd save enough CO2 to power 36% of all the street lights in Northern Ireland. This is based on the following calculation. The above figure of 18,000,000 kgs of CO2 is equivalent to the annual CO2 emissions from 90,000 street lights.
The Northern Ireland Department of the Environment's Roads Service agency reports that "There are about 250,000 street lights in Northern Ireland".
90,000 = 36% of 250,000.
Natural Clothes Drying Solutions
Most tumble dryers are C rated. A rated ones are a rarity, expensive and although better in terms of energy usage, still consume about three times as much energy as a similarly classified washing machine per kg of dry clothes.
So there are huge benefits to opting for a more environmentally solution. The sun's energy is free so take advantage of it on warm sunny days! Clothes can be air dried outside on a clothes line or rotary airer. On rainy days use an indoor airer or drying rack. As well as being cheaper and better for the environment, your clothes will last longer too. Natural clothes drying solutions can be found at:
Eco Washing Lines - http://www.ecowashinglines.co.uk
Delivery across the UK and Europe
Urban Clothes Lines - http://www.urbanclotheslines.com
Delivery across the US and Canada
Natural Collection - http://www.naturalcollection.com/natural-shop/laundry.aspx
International delivery
Indoor drying
It is worth noting that drying clothes on airing racks indoors in winter has limited benefits over using a tumble dryer: in essence the entire house will function as a dryer, and about the same amount of energy will be expended. But the house will get more humid, and require more heating to dry out. This is what happens in a condensing tumble dryer: the clothes are heated up with warm air, causing moisture to evaporate into the machine. This moist air is then cooled, causing the water to condense and drain away. The energy from this process is partly released into the room the dryer sits in, and partly lost in the water. Non-condensing dryers, which just blow the moist air outside, are actually more wasteful here (but don't let them blow the air into the house, see also below).
What happens when you air clothes? The heat to evaporate the water will come from the surrounding air, which is probably supplied by your central heating. The water will evaporate into the air, and then condense on cold surfaces; this could be walls or windows. This then requires more heating and ventilation to remove, or mould will start to grow. Essentially, rather than drying clothes, you end up drying the house, which is less efficient because it's bigger.
It is an unfortunate truth that you can't really "win" here. Water requires a certain amount of heat to evaporate, and it will have to be supplied somehow.
However, on warmer days, when the outside air temperature is comfortable enough to open windows, don't use the tumble dryer, but dry clothes on an airing rack and open the windows. A small pedestal fan aimed at the drying rack can speed up the process at a tiny expense of energy. And, of course, drying clothes outside on a clothes line whenever the weather permits is even better.
Of course, what also helps is to get a washing machine with a very efficient spin cycle, which removes more water from the clothes mechanically, rather then thermally. This is much more energy-efficient.
The avoidance of drying clothes using a clothesline can sometime be caused by two things, 1. Clotheslines in some cultures (ie, America) are considered "low rent" therefore making it hard for retailers to even sell these items in shops. 2. They can be considered more laborious to use.
These two objections are both now being addressed thankfully and finally the clothesline has caught up with trends and fashions and they have evolved into more space saving, eye pleasing, easy to use devices. See http://www.qualityclotheslines.net
for these new designs. Clotheslines, where once were bound by coming only in a base colour of green or just a galvanised finish now come in almost any colour you like making them more appealing. These new designs such as is found at http://www.qualityclotheslines.net/foldowns.html
now make drying your clothes more than easy. Now they actually make clothesdrying fashionable and more enjoyable by getting out in the sun for a few moments and using a clothesline that has many features that once never existed. Lets hope that the rest of the world catches on to the new trend that is clotheslines.