AttemptGreen.com

I know I have been bad about blogging lately.  We recently purchased a house and I have been very busy with making updates.  However, it is providing lots of topics for me to write about.  Today I want to talk about a new purchase I just made, a new washer and dryer.

The previous owner’s washer and dryer were in pretty bad condition and we knew we weren’t going to keep them.  So with yesterday being Veterans Day, and all the huge sales, I purchased a new washer and dryer.  There were a lot of factors that went into picking out what to buy.

First, I looked for the Energy Star rating.  With the washer, there were a couple of features that were important to me.  I was looking for the ability to set the temperature of the water.  I also wanted the ability to set how large the load is.  This way I could minimize the energy to heat the water and how much water is used based on the laundry I was putting in.  Having these options on a washer, and using them, can really help with energy consumption.  The biggest different between washers though is a top-loader versus a front-loader.  I went with the front-loader based on the fact that it uses drastically less water than a top-loader does (nearly 40% ).  There are many other features you can look for in a washer, but what I’ve found are that these are the important ones when it comes to being green.

I started out being a little frustrated with the dryer.  I couldn’t find a dryer with an Energy Star rating.  Then I found out that Energy Star does not rate dryers “since there is little difference in the energy use between models.”   Once I figured that out, I felt better.  The one feature in a dryer that is important to pay attention to is the moisture sensor.  The moisture sensor will sense how wet the clothes are and adjust the run time accordingly to how wet the clothes are.  This means that the dryer will only run the necessary amount of time and minimize the amount of energy used.  The biggest difference between dryers is gas versus electric and for the most part anyone will use which ever their house is setup for.  Our house happens to be hooked up with gas, so naturally I bought a gas dryer.  A gas dryer is more expensive to buy, but less expensive to run.  I couldn’t find any numbers as far as what is more energy friendly.

So once you have all the features you want, brands I believe are more of a personal preference on how much you want to spend and what level of quality you want to buy.  I personally choose the LG brand, but was in debate with Maytag and Whirlpool as well.  I also considered GE for a less expensive option. 

For more laundry tips to save energy, check out the department of energy’s website.