An eco-friendly tumble dryer sounds like my idea of a dream gadget, ever since I found out the horrible truth of how much energy a standard dryer guzzles up. I did know about spin dryers, which rely on gravity to work their drying magic, but having mangled one garment too many using a spin dryer at college, was not convinced by them. So what could possibly power an eco-friendly tumble dryer?
The answer, apparently, is gas...
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A new generation of gas-powered dryers made by UK company White Knight have just been launched, amid claims that the appliances produce 50% less gas than standard models and have 60% lower running costs.
The numbers are certainly interesting: a gas dryer produces 20kg of carbon per year as opposed to the 40kg churnced out by an electric dryer. This is good progress, but let's not forget that this is still a lot of C02 that could be saved with the adoption of lifestyle changes, like hanging clothing out or investing in a dryer rack.
It could be argued that - like dryer balls - the solution here is a good one for people who find they simply can't do without the dryer: those in cramped living conditions, sharing a space that won't allow for a rack, or anyone finding they need a lot of clothes dried quickly on a wet day. And if all our costly and carbon-loving electric dryers were suddenly replaced by gas ones overnight, we'd collectively save half the energy we're using to power them at present. So, if you're looking to buy a tumble dryer, this might be the route to go down.
But is this still not going far enough, and will it lead to money-minded householders simply using the dryer more often? Let me know what you think.
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