Air It Out: Dry Smarter, Save Energy, Protect the Planet
Consumers could save $21 billion over the next 30 years using more efficient residential clothes dryers, estimates the United States Department of Energy.
Hanging laundry to dry uses no fuel or electricity and produces no pollution, but takes a little more time than throwing a damp load in the dryer. Another way to save energy is to upgrade from a vented blower dryer to a ventless condensing or heat pump clothes dryer. Stricter efficiency standards have been approved for clothes drying appliances to be sold in the United States that are projected to save tens of billions of dollars, effectively securing energy for more beneficial uses over the next three decades. You don’t need to wait to save, though. You can hang laundry to dry or install a ventless clothes dryer so you can begin spending your energy dollars more wisely today.
Two That Matter Most
To know how well you are meeting your need for clean laundry without wasting energy or creating unnecessary pollution, these two indicators matter most:
How much energy you use.
Whether you blow air through your laundry to produce microplastic air pollution.
Sustainable Practice: Cleaning 104
Drying Laundry Efficiently
Dry laundry efficiently in a ventless dryer or hang to air dry.
Equipment and Materials
High-efficiency washing machine. [Optional]
Ventless clothes dryer. [Optional]
Clothes drying racks. [Optional]
Clothes drying line. [Optional]
Steps
If you have a high-efficiency washing machine, set the spin speed to high so that most wash water is spun out of your laundry during the wash cycle.
Install an efficient ventless clothes dryer. [Optional]
Buy clothes drying racks. [Optional]
Buy and install a clothesline. [Optional]
Dry your laundry in a ventless dryer or hang to dry on a rack or line.
Discussion
You can dry laundry after washing without burning any fuel or using any electricity if you hang it on a drying rack or line. For convenience, instead of spending time hanging your laundry, you may want to use a machine to dry it. The most resource-efficient way to wash and dry laundry using machines is to use an all-in-one ventless electric washer-dryer. With this type of machine, you put dirty laundry in, and take clean, dry laundry out.
High-efficiency washing machines have a high-speed spin cycle that forces most of the wash water out during the wash cycle, leaving less work for the drying cycle. A ventless dryer uses a condensation process to remove the remaining moisture and allow it to drain out or collect in a removable pan. Condensing drying technology is much more environmentally friendly and energy-efficient than blow-drying technology.
In a blow-drying vented dryer, a fan draws in air from around the dryer, fuel is burned, or electricity is consumed to heat this air. The heated air flows through clothing, and then the warm, moist air and lint (small pieces of fiber that break off of clothing as it is being dried this way) are vented out of the dryer. A lint trap on a vented dryer captures some, but not all, of the microplastic pollution created from each load of laundry.
In a condensing dryer, a fan circulates air inside the unit. This internally circulating air is alternately heated, allowing moisture to be absorbed, then cooled, forcing moisture to condense out of the air. By repeating this heating and cooling process, moisture is removed from the clothing without forcing exhaust air out of the dryer. Ventless dryers can use an electric heating element to heat air and heat fins to dissipate heat or a heat pump to increase the efficiency of the heating and cooling process.
Because ventless dryers circulate air inside of them, rather than sucking air in and blowing air out, they don’t depressurize a building. Vented dryers, by contrast, do depressurize a building because they force warm moist air laden with lint outside. (If dryer air is not vented outdoors, it can create dangerous mold and mildew problems in a building.) As they force indoor air out of a building through their exhaust vent, vented dryers cause outdoor air to be sucked into a building through other openings, such as around windows, doors, or through dedicated incoming air vents. In winter, this creates more work for a building’s heating system, which must heat up the dry cold outdoor air that the vented dryer is sucking in. In summer, this creates more work for a building’s air conditioning system, which must cool and dry the warm and humid outdoor air that the vented dryer is sucking in.
Definitions
Condensing: a drying technology that heats air to allow it to absorb moisture, then cools air to force moisture to condense out of it
Desiccant: a material that absorbs moisture
Heat Pump: a refrigerant loop that absorbs heat in one place and releases heat in another place
Microplastics: small pieces of plastic less than 5 millimeters big; small pieces of synthetic fiber that break off of clothing and form lint
Relative Humidity: how much water vapor is in the air compared to how much the air could hold at the current temperature
Ventless: dryers that don’t require a vent for exhaust air
Troubleshooting
Mold or mildew develops on your drying rack
Wipe the affected areas with alcohol, bleach, or another toxin to kill fungal spores.
Allow the rack to fully dry.
Sand the dowel rods with 150 grit sandpaper until smooth.
Prevent fungus (including molds or mildews) from growing by allowing your drying rack to dry fully between uses and storing it in a dry environment (below 50% relative humidity).
Your laundry takes longer to dry in a ventless dryer
This is normal.
Your laundry isn’t coming out fully dry from a ventless dryer
Put smaller loads in per drying cycle.
After installing a ventless dryer, mold or mildew is growing in your laundry room.
Install a circulating fan to blow air out of your laundry room into the rest of your house; because the dryer isn’t sucking air out of your laundry room, humidity from doing laundry can remain trapped in a small area.
Install a dehumidifier or put a desiccant, such as silica gel packs or zeolite, in your laundry room.
Strategies and Goals
Community
Educate
Become a laundry drying expert
Demonstrate best practices
Inspire people in your community to dry laundry efficiently
Energy
Increase energy efficiency
Use less energy to clean your laundry
Milestones
Increase people in the community who dry laundry efficiently
Measure: Community members drying laundry efficiently
Method: Logbook
Time Period: Year
Decrease energy used to clean laundry
Measure: Energy use
Method: Utility bills and logbook
Time Period: Month
Limitations
Hanging laundry to dry is time-consuming and requires sufficient indoor or outdoor space for items to spread out.
Allergens (such as browntail moths) or pollutants may make it inadvisable to hang laundry to dry outdoors.
Not everyone can afford to buy a ventless dryer.
Ventless dryers take longer to dry laundry.
Ventless dryers can dry smaller loads per cycle compared to vented dryers.
Opportunities
Cleaning 103 - Washing Clothes in Cold Water
Use an efficient washing machine.
Save energy when you do your laundry.
Plastic 102 - Buying Natural Fibers
Buy clothing and fabric made from natural fibers instead of plastic (synthetic fibers).
Reduce the amount of microplastic you create from cleaning your laundry.
References
Articles
Events
Hang Dry Week (Last Week in August)
Ventless Dryers
Keywords
cleaning, drying laundry, condensing dryers, ventless dryers, drying racks, clotheslines
I was introduced to ventless washer/dryer units on my European adventures. Never seen one in the US. The laundry bandwidth is much smaller than the typical W/D combo in the USA. Smaller loads & longer cycles. It’s gonna take a cultural shift to move this needle stateside. This article was very educational, now I understand the benefits of the ventless W/D unit. Thx!
P.S. When Mother Nature cooperates, I hang clothes out to dry. Will make a point to do so more often!
We use several methods but i could only choose one. Vented gas dryer and hang dry+ folding drying rack.