How much energy is actually used by the clothes dryer?
About 5.8 percent of residential electricity use goes towards the clothes dryer, according to DOE EIA statistics from 2001. See End-Use Consumption of Electricity 2001. If all Americans would use the clothesline or wooden drying racks, the savings would be enough to close several power plants.
Project Laundry List provides a fairly sophisticated Green Laundry Calculator, which you can save on your computer as an Excel file.
It typically costs 30 to 40 cents to dry a load of laundry in an electric dryer and approximately 15 to 20 cents in a gas dryer. Over its expected lifetime of 18 years, the average clothes dryer will cost you approximately $1,530 to operate. Learn more at Flex Your Power.
Clothes Dryer1
Do Not Use a Clothes Dryer........................ 23.6 million (21.2%)
Use a Clothes Dryer.................................... 87.5 million (78.8%)Electric..................................................... 67.2
Natural Gas.............................................. 19.4
Propane/LPG........................................... 0.9
These figures do not take into account the millions of Americans who do their wash at commercial Laundromats and multi-family housing locations. The number of American households with a washing machine at home but no dryer is 4.3 million (or 3.9%). We assume that this is roughly the number of hard core air dryers, who use clotheslines and drying racks exclusively.
By looking at the average of all households instead of the average or median of households using a dryer, we get a very inaccurate picture of how much money and energy people can save by using a clothesline. The utility industry likes these cloudy numbers--"fuzzy math."
Twenty percent of American households use gas dryers. The Energy Information Administration does not keep statistics on the energy used by these machines, nor do they track--or have a way to track--energy used by laundry facilities at commercial establishments. Millions of Americans wash or have their clothes washed at commercial sector locations--universities, prisons, nursing homes, hospitals, restaurants, fish piers, and hotels, for example.
Why do we pay for prisoners to have their laundry washed for them? Are we afraid of a hanging? What did they do 100 years ago?
Finally, it is important to remember, "There are lies, damn lies, and statistics." The percentage of electricity used to dry is likely much higher in the median American household than in the mean or average household, because most people do not heat their homes and hot water with electricity and the average is skewed by those who use large amounts of energy in the home for peculiar uses or because they have large homes much more than it is by the Amish and various other Luddite sects.
Here are some more interesting statistics about Americans and their washers and dryers (these are not percentages, but the millions of American households out of 111.1 million total households in 2005):
For more information about these statistics, call Eileen M. O’Brien at the DOE/EIA- 202-586-1122 - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
See Luxury or Necessity? The Public Makes a U-Turn.
In 2001 55 percent of all households had a tumble dryer and 95 percent had a washing machine. Ownership of tumble dryers doubled every ten years. In 1981 only 13 percent of households had a drier. By 1991 this had increased to 27 percent, and in 2001 to 55 percent. (Netherlands Statistical Office)
Do you understand where your gasoline comes from, what determines the price of electricity, or how much renewable energy we use? If not, you're not alone. But now you can learn all about energy at Energy Explained, a nonpartisan guide to the entire range of energy topics from biodiesel to uranium. From U.S. Energy Information Administration, Energy Explained clearly conveys the facts and latest data about energy and all major energy sources, uses, and environmental interactions. Visit Energy Explained at www.eia.doe.gov/energyexplained.
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What about the cost of heating up your house?
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