Coordination office FORUM WASHING at IKW eV (Industrial Association for Personal Care and Detergents)
Frankfurt (ots)
Drying clothes outdoors saves 100 percent energy. If the air is dry – even icy – textiles will dry wonderfully on the balcony, terrace or in the garden, even in the cool season.
Alternatively, energy consumption when drying laundry can be reduced by using an energy-saving tumble dryer or by drying the laundry in a room that is as unheated as possible but well ventilated. In order to reduce the drying time, the laundry should have as little residual moisture as possible after spinning in the washing machine. This not only saves electricity for the dryer, but also energy for heating the drying room. When drying indoors on a drying rack or line, moist air must be removed to the outside by repeated airing to prevent mold stains.
Even if the number of hours of sunshine increases slowly at the beginning of the year, it is already possible to dry laundry outdoors. This even applies in icy temperatures, because in dry cold the initially frozen water evaporates from the textiles and leaves dry laundry on the line. This saves 100 percent of the energy that would otherwise be used to dry the laundry. This applies to the electricity for a tumble dryer as well as the energy costs for any other heat source that would be necessary to heat the air in the drying room. If every second load of laundry is dried outdoors in an energy-saving manner, this can reduce the electricity bill in a four-person household by around 150 euros per year.
If drying on the clothesline outside is not possible, there are other ways to reduce energy consumption. This includes preparing the laundry for subsequent drying in an energy-saving tumble dryer or on the line in a sufficiently large and well-ventilated room when selecting the washing program and the appropriate spin speed. The spin speed determines the residual moisture. The higher the spin speed, the less water the textiles contain after washing and the drying time is reduced accordingly. BUT: Even with a spin speed of 1400 revolutions per minute (rpm), for example, there is still 50 percent residual moisture in the laundry. That’s 2.5 liters of water for 5 kilograms of laundry. Every drop of water that has already been removed from the fabric during spinning means less energy is used in drying. This not only reduces the running time of the tumble dryer – it also reduces the heating costs for possibly necessary heating of the air in the drying room. Brief airing with a draft achieves good air circulation in the room and prevents the formation of mold in the room.
Energy saving and laundry care tips from FORUM WASHING:
- Spin the laundry in the machine as dry as possible in the appropriate spin cycle.
- Dry laundry outdoors if possible, even in the cool season.
- Drying laundry is possible outdoors on dry days when there is frost. Never remove and bring in the laundry when it is frozen – it can be damaged and is still damp. Always let it hang until it is no longer rigid.
- When drying in heated rooms, do not forget to ventilate several times.
- Position the drying rack so that the laundry does not impede the ventilation of the room.
- Before hanging up, shake out the laundry, smooth it out and fasten it straight on the line.
- If possible, do not hang textiles twice/overlapping.
- Picture card “6 golden rules for drying clothes”
The FORUM WASHING provides further information about sustainable cleaning and care on the Internet: https://www.forum-Wasen.de/reinigen-putzen-pflegen-infos.html The WASHING FORUM also presents at www.wasschtipps.de Insights into sustainable household and laundry care in animated YouTube videos and a blog.
Actors in the WASHING FORUM:
Working Group of Evangelical Household Managers (AEH) of the German Evangelical Women’s Association e. V. (DEF); Vocational Schools Ritterplan, Göttingen; Professional Association of Home Economics e. V.; Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL); Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR); Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV); Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection; Federal Association of Housekeeping Professions MdH e. v.; German Energy Agency GmbH (dena); German Allergy and Asthma Association V. (DAAB); DHB – Network Household e. v.; The consumer initiative e. v.; Kassel; German Fashion Modeverband Deutschland e. v.; Society of German Chemists e. V., Department of Laundry Chemistry; Health Department Bremen; Detergents Board (HAD); HEA – Association for Efficient Energy Use e. v.; Fulda University of Applied Sciences, Department of Oecotrophology; Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences; University of Applied Sciences Berlin (HTW), clothing technology course; Mining, Chemical and Energy Industrial Union (IG BCE); Industry Association for Personal Care and Detergents e. V. (IKW); Information network of dermatological clinics (IVDK); Institute for Market-Environment-Society e. V. (imug); Institute for Ecological Economic Research (IÖW) GmbH, non-profit; Öko-Institut e. v.; SEPAWA/LUV (Association of Soap, Perfume and Detergent Specialists); Stiftung Warentest; Thuringian rural women’s association e. v.; Federal Environment Agency (UBA); Consumer Service Bavaria in the KDFB e. V. (CDB); Consumer Center Federal Association e. V. (vzbv); Consumer Center Saxony-Anhalt e. V.; World Wide Fund For Nature Germany (WWF); Central Association of Electrical Engineering and Electronics Industry e. V. (ZVEI)
Press contact:
WASHING FORUM, contact: Susanne Seidel, coordination office at IKW eV, Tel.: 069 2556-1324, e-mail: [email protected]
Original content from: FORUM WASHING coordination office at IKW eV (Industrial Association for Personal Care and Detergents), transmitted by news aktuell
