Many of us, when thinking of ways to reduce our carbon footprint, try to find new innovations and technologies to do the trick. We often forget of traditional and simple ways of getting things done. One of these simple means of reducing emissions, saving energy, and putting some money in your pocket is using a clothes line to dry your clothes.
People often talk about the negative aspects to hanging clothes: “the line going across our yard is ugly,” “it takes too long,” “my towels get hard and crusty!” Agreed, some of these complaints are somewhat legitimate. However, they are not all inevitable and there are many benefits to clothes lines that are dismissed.
First, the dreaded line that your neighbours complain about and that supposedly drops your property value. This is where innovation can kick in. If you look at the image at the top left of this post, you will see my clothes line… it’s retractable. I can pull it out when I need to hang my clothes and then it winds itself back up when I’m done with it. That means no line constantly stringing across the yard. The line simply clips and un-clips to/from a hook on one of our trees.
Second, hanging clothes takes too long? How long do you spend sending jokes through email or watching “reality” TV? If you think about the silly things we waste our time on, then the time it takes to hang some clothes doesn’t seem so bad. It takes me about 5 minutes to hang a load of laundry. That’s only 4 and-a-half minutes longer than throwing them in the dryer. That is not something to complain about when I put things into perspective. Also, I’m saving electricity and money–it’s like I’m getting paid for that 4.5 minutes of work!
Third, if you are really bothered by the stiffness hanging your clothes causes, then throw them in the dryer for 2-3 minutes after taking them off the line to soften them up–you’re still saving “loads” of dryer time.
Now for some facts and figures. There were more than 88 million dryers in the US in 2005. “If all Americans line-dried for just half a year, it would save 3.3% of the country’s total residential output of carbon dioxide, experts say.” 3.3%! That’s huge if you think about how much CO2 all the households in the US emit. As for the impact on the wallet, the average clothes dryer costs about $160/yr to run. Add some of this to the money you’ve saved from other Friday Footprint tips and you’ll see your overall savings climb.
And now for some common sense. If you really think about the electric clothes dryer’s function, it is very unnecessary during the warmer seasons. On a warm breezy day, my clothes will be dry in about 2 hours. On a hot day, less than an hour. Yet my dryer always takes 70 minutes. Why run something that guzzles electricity for that long when I can let nature do the work? Also, being detached from a machine gives one a sense of autonomy–meaning we are not dependent on it to do work we are fully capable of doing ourselves. Hanging clothes can be relaxing as well, it gets you outside and lets you take a small break away from your daily stressors.
Hanging your clothes on a line to dry is a simple and sensible way of reducing your carbon footprint while saving electricity and money. Don’t let drying your clothes remain a chore, enjoy the break it gives you and enjoy the nature it exposes you to.
[Data taken from the Canada Free Press and the Government of Seattle respectively]
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6 Comments
In places where energy is really expensive like Europe, many people still use clothes lines..pretty cool to see and smell the cleanliness of as you walk around…
Good point, maybe us here in North America are too spoiled by low energy costs.
No way, I always hang my clothes.
Indoors, hanging them outside fades the colour.
And if you add fabric softner and then when everything is dry.
You put the clothes in the dryer for 5 minutes and your set.
Lame.
Hi there
very interesting information
looking forward to seeing the comments
Global Warming
I think hanging your clothes outside is an excellant idea! you dont have to hang your clothes outside you can hang them inside. you dont only save money on your energy bill but you also help reduce the carbon footprint.
Hi,
I think hanging out the laundry, esp things line towels and sheets is a great way to go. Not only do you save on the energy costs, but you also save on machine wear and tear, you get exercise and when things are dried in the fresh air, they smell better anyway, not just some artificial fabric softener smell.
Good points on how much carbon output could be saved,
Art