[Greenbuilding] ENERGY STAR Clothes Dryers Program Launch

[Paul Eldridge]

I'm not too worried that you or anyone else might try to take away my 
tumble dryer, or that forces beyond my control will conspire against me 
and my spendthrift ways (and if they do, then so be it). I guess my 
vision of the future is quite different from your own.

I've line dried in the past, but have come to appreciate the convenience 
of tossing everything into the dryer, twisting a knob and pressing a 
button, and it seems that I'm far from alone in this.  And if someone 
disapproves of my choices or finds my behaviour morally repugnant, I'm 
OK with that too.

Cheers,
Paul

>Message: 16
>Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2012 09:38:46 -0700
>From: Reuben Deumling <9watts at gmail.com>
>To: Green Building <greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
>Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] ENERGY STAR Clothes Dryers Program Launch
>Message-ID:
>	<CAE5fceCCLHoJ1d7yo83J96DmEiaP4bKzK-=JDUJsqWSB41KzKg at mail.gmail.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>>On Sun, Jul 22, 2012 at 5:36 AM, Paul Eldridge <
>>paul.eldridge at ns.sympatico.ca> wrote:
>>
>>
>> There are roughly 90 million tumble dryers in the United States alone and
>> no matter how much we collectively hold our breath and stomp our feet (or
>> pontificate), they're not going to magically disappear.
>>
>
>This is the kind of argument I hear in discussions of when cars may no
>longer be ubiquitous. Invariably someone will say 'You're trying to take my
>car away!'  These kinds of statements betray an understandable anxiety
>about the kinds of changes that might be afoot, but also a misunderstanding
>of who's in charge. I'm not trying to take anyone's car or clothes dryer
>away. Personalizing this is absurd. The people who argue that we can't
>afford clothes dryers powered by fossil fuel or the grid, or that cars have
>no future aren't saying this because they want to ruin other people's fun
>or convenience. I believe we say this because it is our best guess as to
>what will come to pass, whether we want it or not. Pretending that this
>doesn't concern us, that consumers rule, that we're somehow exempt from all
>the limits others take seriously is ridiculous.  In the US we have gotten
>used to thinking we're in charge, that if we want clothes dryers well then
>we're damn well going to get (to keep our) clothes dryers. But what if one
>day we discover that we no longer call the shots, hold all the cards?
>Dryers aren't going to 'magically disappear,' but they might cease to be
>viable. Public opinion I think could easily shift when we realize the
>absurdity of thinking we need power plants and a complex grid and ancient
>sunlight to accomplish a task as simple as drying our clothes.
>
>>
>> According to Natural Resources Canada, electric dryers sold in 2008
>> consume, on average, 916 kWh a year.  That number is based on eight loads a
>> week, which works out to be some 2.2 kWh per use. As a two person
>> household, we typically run two loads of laundry a week -- 229 kWh/year.  A
>> TV set-top box (and there are reportedly 160 million of them in US
>> households) or digital video recorder could consume upwards of twice that
>> over the course of the year. Where are the pitchforks and torches?
>>
>
>The whole thing is ridiculous. Just because we keep thinking of new ways to
>use electricity doesn't mean older ways aren't discretionary, aren't
>something we can un-learn.