How much electricity do clothes dryers consume around the world? In the US 75% are electric, 25% gas. Not able to find a ready estimate.
Seems like one of the dumbest emissions sources. Air drying works fine, and the function seems mostly aesthetic (eliminating clotheslines)
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Fwiw, we’ve been 60-80% air drying basically forever… indoors, in small 1 bedroom apartments most of that time, and in cold/cloudy climates too. Just takes a bit of planning. Small racks don’t take up much room. And heated indoors are basically dryers.
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Not an absolutist about it and didn’t realize this is so religious for so many people. We still use dryers, just for a minority of loads.
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And tbh we started doing it to preserve quality clothes longer, not environmental reasons. Most clothes seem to last longer washed cold and air-dried.
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Also to be clear, the aesthetics in question are self-regulatory (rental and HSA rules against visible clotheslines in the US). I suspect most people care much if clothes are visible in yards or balconies, but a few care enough to make rules.
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Dryer takes 1-2 minutes of labor and 60 minutes of non-labor, doable any time. Air drying takes 20-30 minutes of labor and 6-8 hours of non-labor, doable only on pleasant, sunny daylight hours. Definitely not solely aesthetic.
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I’ve used air drying in cold low sunlight places and we only air dry indoors
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Air drying in December? It’s 20 degrees Fahrenheit here. Also people in apartments?
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If you want to trade your time for a smaller individual footprint more power to you but that's not where we'll mitigate the climate crisis.
The US industrial sector emits as much CO2 as every household in the world combined and has INCREASED emissions by 6% since 1990.
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Agreed, that’s where strategic attention should go. But domestic efforts help foster the cultural climate that can drive corporate changes
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