Читать книгу The Going Green Handbook - Alice Mary Alvrez - Страница 13

Use all that free fresh air out there to reduce your electricity use on laundry day. It’s not as quick or convenient as that handy dryer in the laundry room, but it really isn’t that much work once you get into the routine of putting your clothes out on a line. Here’s how to get started.

The Simple Approach

A folding rack would work both inside and out if you only have a small load to dry. Otherwise, you can go with one of the free-standing umbrella style racks for more space. You may need to sink a hole to anchor it down, depending on the model. They work fine (and are especially suitable for little yards), but the clothes aren’t as spread out and it can take longer for your clothes to dry. Still, it’s a fine option.

Or you can just get some sturdy rope and string up a stationary line between two points. You’ll have to walk along the line as you put up the clothes since the line doesn’t move.

A Classic Clothesline

For the full clothesline experience, you might want to put up the standard type of line that moves by using pulleys at either end. This allows you to stand at one end, and move the line along as you add clothes. You can usually buy kits that contain a good length of proper vinyl-coated line, two pulleys and a connector.

Attach a pulley at either end of your intended clothesline, then loop the line through them both. You’ll want to cut the length long enough to cover the distance twice with at least 6 inches extra for the connector. Once the connector twists the ends together, it should be fairly taut. Now you just need a non-rainy day to put out the clothes.

How long it takes will really depend on your clothes and the weather. A warm day with a light breeze can dry thinner fabrics (perhaps cotton sheets) in as little as an hour. On the other hand, a heavy pair of jeans can take all afternoon. On average, you should be able to dry 2 loads of laundry in a day though. Just make sure to wash clothes on sunny days if you can.

So how green is this tip? Well, on average, your electric dryer is going to create 4 1/2 pounds of carbon pollution for each and every load. If you air-dry 2 loads per week, that’s 36 lbs. of carbon you’re keeping out of the atmosphere in just one month. In terms of electricity use, a pretty standard dryer uses 5400W making it one of the biggest energy drains in the house.