What's the most energy efficient way to do laundry?

tallulah_beaulah

I've been experimenting to work out the most energy-efficient (and so the cheapest) way of doing laundry. I'd love some thoughts from other OS'ers.

First, I dropped my washing temperatures to 30 degrees, and then over the last two weeks I started hand washing, to save on electricity. (though I do cheat and spin the laundry in the machine before hanging it out).

Washing at lower temperatures does make me think that I should iron everything though, especially tea-towels, dishcloths etc. to be sure all bugs are killed off. Irons use a lot of electricity so am I making any saving by not using a washing machine, if I'm ironing everything? (I never used to iron anything). Also hand washing seems to use a lot of water, though I don't know how it compares to the amount a machine uses.

I know there are a lot of threads about laundry on this board, and I have read them, I've also Googled energy-efficient laundry, but not really found a definitive answer on the cheapest, most energy-efficient method. The cost of electricity is only going to go up, so I'm trying to find ways of using as little as possible - and laundry is my current fixation!

My dream is to one day get one of these hand operated washers.

Anyone got any thoughts, or hard evidence on cheapest / most energy-efficient way to wash laundry?

Penny-Pincher!!

I havent got any mind blowing information, but I only wash when the load is full and I have a large 7.5kg WM. It holds about 1.5 times the amount of an avergae WM, so in theory do less washing. It is an eco-friendly one too as far as they go and uses minimal water and does not have a hotter wash than 60c. I probably have cut the washloads from 10 to 5-6 a week

1.5 loads of bedding (single and supersize-sheets, pillowcases and quilt covers))
1 load of towels a week
1 load of whites (tea-towels, undies, white shirts etc)...every 7-10 days
2 loads of mixed or darks (jeans, uniform, pjs, tops, pants, etc)


HTH

PP
xx