We do a lot of things in our house to reduce energy consumption or to focus on clean energy use. One of the things we do with the biggest impact is not using our clothes dryer. We are a family of five, with 3 kids so we have a lot of laundry. Our ten year old is the type that likes to do multiple costume changes throughout the day to suit her mood. Laundry is abundant around here. However, we live on a canyon and have ample breeze almost every day all day long. Before we even moved into this house we had a clothesline up and ready to work its magic. On a hot day the clothesline works significantly better than if we had put the clothes in the dryer. By using the clothesline though we reduce our energy consumption. Our dryer is electric. It’s neither the more efficient nor the better choice for the environment when compared to a gas dryer. An electric dryer emits 12.7 pounds of carbon dioxide per cycle, whereas a gas dryer emits on average about 8.4 pounds of CO2. We have an electric dryer because our entire house is electric and we have solar panels (a post for another day). We removed the gas line from the house entirely, but when we did so we made the commitment to only using our electric dryer when absolutely necessary. After two years in this house I’d say we’ve averaged using the dryer about a dozen or less times a year and generally it’s used for half of a cycle to finish drying clothes when it started raining later in the day. - Gray H.
