Is Your Clothes Washer an ENERGY STAR?

How much water does an ENERGY STAR-rated clothes washer save?

It can literally cut your water usage in half.

A standard washer uses 32.5 gallons of water per load, while an ENERGY STAR-rated machine uses only 15 gallons, according to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

ENERGY STAR-rated washers also allow you to adjust water levels for smaller loads, and they spin-dry your clothes more effectively, which reduces dryer time.

While the average clothes washer lasts about 11 years, those manufactured before 1999 use 400% more energy than ENERGY STAR-rated models.

As of July 1, ENERGY STAR machines were required to be at least 43% more energy-efficient than the minimum federal standard, and they must meet stringent water-efficiency criteria.

Check out the DOE’s Make a Clean Change—Recycle Your Old Washer program, which promotes rebates on energy-efficient models. Recycling also saves about $145 per year in utility bills.

For Your Organic Bookshelf: Laundry: The Spirit of Keeping Home

Photo courtesy of GE

Tags: clothes washers, ENERGY STAR, environment, green cleaning, laundry, recycling, shopping, water conservation

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 at 5:34 am and is filed under green cleaning. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.