Eco-friendly technology to hang your hat (and clothes) on
By Sue Kirkland, Sustainable Lawrence
Weekly eco-tips courtesy Sustainable Lawrence. Visit them at sustainablelawrence.org.
What if I told you that available today is an environmentally friendly, wind and solar-powered clothes drier that can save 5 to 10 percent of the average household’s electricity usage and will save wear and tear on your clothes? I bet you’re already interested. Well, this miracle appliance is here and it’s called … a clothesline.
That’s right, the humble clothesline has gotten a new lease on life and is showing up in trendy homes and well-kept back yards all over the world.
A recent tip sent in by a reader suggesting hanging clothes to dry as a way of saving energy piqued my interest. So I started looking for information on this “new” way to dry clothes. Sierra Magazine highlighted Alexander Lee, a New Hampshire man who has started a movement to encourage people to hang their clothes rather than use an electric or gas dryer to save energy and help discourage expansion of power plants. His Web site, www.laundrylist.org, provides information on buying clotheslines and also help on how to encourage municipalities, subdivisions and townhouse communities to allow this eco-friendly way to dry clothes. Clothesline drying is also easier on your clothes. You know about all the lint that you clean out of the screen in the dryer. That lint is actually made up of fibers that come off your clothes as they spin around, causing additional wear on the fabric.
Some people in the past have been concerned about how clotheslines in a backyard make a neighborhood look. While the basic technology hasn’t changed — you hang the wet clothes out in the sun and wind and let the natural elements do the work — high-tech creativity has made some wonderful innovations in the hardware used.
There are several styles of retractable and foldaway clotheslines that virtually disappear when not in use. The carousel-style can also be folded away, or the creative consumer can purchase an umbrella cover and use it as part of the patio furniture when the laundry is done. Totally portable clotheslines on stands are also available and can be used indoors during winter or inclement weather. These units also fold up for easy storage.
While we’re talking about laundry, you don’t need to dry clothes until you wash them. The U.S. Department of Energy has some suggestions on how to be more energy efficient when you wash your clothes, too. Since they estimate about 90 percent of the energy used in washing your clothes is used for heating the water, cutting your setting from hot to warm can cut a load’s energy use in half. If you’re washing fine fabrics, cold water can save even more energy and protect your clothes, too.
I can’t be the only one who remembers the wonderful fragrance of sheets and towels dried on a clothesline. With the ecological benefits added to the pleasure for the senses, clothesline drying is a double win. While winter is coming, there are still lots of beautiful fall days ahead that will let you get started on this radically new/old way of drying clothes. You may need time to find and install the right clothesline system for you, so start now and be ready for a fresher spring.
Contact your local hardware store to see if they can help you find the “wind and solar powered clothes dryer” that’s right for you. Web sites that may be helpful are www.breezecatcher.com and www.urbanclotheslines.com.
If you have tips to share or ideas for how Sustainable Lawrence can help our community be more sustainable, contact us at www.sustainablelawrence.org.

