How many kilowatt hours of electricity would a household spend per year drying their laundry in an average electric dryer?
According to the US Department of Energy, the average household (2.64. persons) runs 392 laundry wash cycles per year (a little over 7.5 loads per week). Not all of this laundry gets dried in the dryer.
Seventy-nine percent of occupied housing units have a clothes dryer, according to the American Housing Survey for the United States: 2005. Figure 1 or Table 1A-4.
According to the results of a 1997 Canadian survey, the average clothes dryer was used for 5.8 loads per week in the winter, but only 3.6 loads per week in the summer. (See http://www.oee.nrcan.gc.ca/publications/infosource/pub/energy_use/sheu_e/sheu_5.cfm) Figures are higher in the United States, where clotheslines are in less common use.
Clothes dryers use anywhere from 1800-5000 watts, depending on the heat setting, the age and model, how well maintained it is, and other factors. (See http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/your_home/appliances/index.cfm/mytopic=10040)
Project Laundry List believes that the median American household can probably attribute between 10-25% of its electricity bill to the electric clothes dryer.
You can also check with your local library to see if they have a device called a "Kill-A-Watt" available to check out. This device is easy to use and will give you a good idea of how much electricity an appliance is consuming.
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