Is it really worth it to hang one's clothes to dry rather than use the dryer? Such a question was posed to me by a thoughtful reader recently.
Well, I raised the conservation issue myself, by commenting about all the machines that sit idle in people's homes for most of the week. Well, single people's homes anyway.
Here's a handy tool to estimate the power used by all your household appliances: Ottawa Hydro.
According to the calculator, a typical dryer, if used for two loads per week, uses 6.48 kilowatts per month, or $0.63 worth. Well that doesn't sound like so much. In contrast, a 6000 BTU air conditioner (a small one I think) uses $17.27 worth a month if used for only 6 hours a day. Hmmm.
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3 comments:
Who, among the Ottawaneans (Ottawa-ers? Ottawits? Ottataneans? Ottagettajobbers? Oh, fooey, I'm moving to Barrhaven...) that actually owns an air conditioner, has the self-restraint to only fire it up for a measly six hours a day, during Ottawa's hellish-hot-soupy-swamp season?
Well, except the people who bought those self-destructing sub-$100 cheapies from Wal-mart, who are trying to eke 'em out 'til summer ends.
The ones near my den run 24/7 in July and August, so that'd mean something closer to $65-70 a month. For a small one. Hmmm, indeed.
This Ottawan is feeling positively "green" about his clothes dryer:
(a) Electricity only turns the drum, natural gas does the heating; and
(b) If I didn't use the dryer, I'd have to use an electric iron on my shirts.
Dave S: Neat dryer, and good point about the iron.
Coyote: Yes, 6-hours per day is a low-ball figure. However, I imagine a typical coyote den keeps fairly cool. Unless its a south facing one.
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