[Greenbuilding] ENERGY STAR Clothes Dryers Program Launch

[Steven Tjiang]

We live in a democracy, so people are in charge (or at least they think
they are).  Public opinion do matter. I don't see anyway to  get people to
change w/o higher energy prices or more efficiency.

---- Steve (KZ6LSD)


On Sun, Jul 22, 2012 at 9:38 AM, Reuben Deumling <9watts at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> 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.
>
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