Tumble dryers are one of the worst culprits in the home for CO2 consumption. They consume energy both in the power needed to make them ‘tumble’ and in the power needed to heat them up.

According to recent figures from the Energy Saving Trust, we use our washing machine on average 274 times a year, and our tumble dryer on average 148 times a year. Let’s say we’ve finally understood that we can wash our clothes just as well at 30 degrees, reducing by over 20 percent the power consumed to heat the water used. Good, that’s a start. However, the next, far more effective step is to eliminate the power-guzzling tumble dryer.

All you need to do is pick one of the following options:

  1. Got a garden? Lucky you, you can hang your clothes out to dry! They will smell great, and what’s more they will be much easier to iron. Ok I know, there is this thing called rain…. in that case, garden or not, on to option 2.
  2. Get an indoor clothes hanger, or if you have the space, install pulleys. It’s simple, efficient, and it saves energy. Also, having your clothes hanging around reminds you to put them away!!!
  3. If you really must use a tumble dryer from time to time, try to combine use with the above solutions, and, if at all possible, replace your current dryer with a low-energy model.

I get the feeling tumble dryers are a bit like mobile phones, and cars for that matter. Once you’ve got one, you can’t live without it. As someone who’s never had one I can assure you: tumble dryers are unnecessary, energy guzzling appliances, plus one more thing in the home to go wrong and cost you money. Air dry your clothes save energy, and save money. You won’t notice the difference either.