Cash For Appliances: Dryers Need Not Apply?
Written on January 27, 2010 – 6:38 am | by admin
Krista Al Qirim, Contributing writer
As fuel prices increase, the economy flounders and concerns mount over climate change, a growing number of consumers are taking advantage of federally funded state rebate programs meant to encourage upgrade from less to more efficient appliances.
Not surprisingly, these tax stimulus-funded “Cash for Appliances” programs do not cover clothes dryers.
Why “not surprisingly”? Because unlike washers and refrigerators, both of which have seen dramatic improvements in efficiency, dryers are notoriously inefficient, and very little has been done on the commercial front to remedy this.
Since “Cash for Appliances” programs apply only to Energy Star-rated appliances, no currently available dryer qualifies.
Energy Star, a program administered by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, provides an energy performance rating system wherein standards for efficiency are set and products are rated according to their ability to meet or exceed those standards.
What Is Cash For Appliances?
Each state is taking its own slice of the $300 million pie provided by the $787 billion economic stimulus bill. That means 50 different sets of rules, 50 different sets of eligible models and 50 different start dates.
The Hawaii Cash for Appliances program, for example, will only cover refrigerators and no other appliances.
Meanwhile, the Colorado Cash for Appliances program will be more extensive, offering yet-to-be-determined rebates on refrigerators, clothes washers, dishwashers, water heaters, furnaces and gas boilers.
Dryers Await Innovation
Why, in this climate of eco-mindedness, are dryers still so inefficient? It’s a matter of how they do their job. Dryers dry through intake of cool, dry air. This air, drawn over super-heated (up to 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit) coils, is blown into the dryer drum. Warm, humid air is expelled through venting in favor of fresh, newly heated air. Because it is not considered safe to reuse or recycle the warm, wet air due to mold issues (and, with gas dryers, exhaust concerns), improving efficiency is difficult.
Recent innovations promise better, less wasteful days for the common dryer.
Inventor Michael Brown, president and founder of Hydromatic Technologies Corporation, has designed what he coins the “Dryer Miser.” Inspired by the realization that dryers had been bypassed in the rush to improve appliance efficiency, Brown put his HVAC repair background to work.
“After doing research, I realized for more than 80 years there had been almost no improvement or innovation in the design of the dryer,” Brown said. “Virtually every other appliance had changed. I thought it was time for the dryer to come into the 21st century.”
The result of his determination? The Dryer Miser. A simple device that can easily be retrofitted on many dryers, the Dryer Miser uses heated oil rather than coils. Because heat transfer between air and oil is almost twice as efficient as air passed over coils, a machine equipped with a Dryer Miser dries up to 41 percent faster than conventional dryers using up to 50 percent less energy. Not only more efficient, the Dryer Miser is, according to the Hydromatic Web site, markedly safer because it operates at lower temperatures, reducing the danger of fire.
Ways To Reduce Energy Use Now
Until Dryer Misers arrive on store shelves, there are steps each of us can take to reduce the energy used to dry laundry.
Top of the list? Going machine-free. Line drying is becoming popular with eco-conscious people, as it utilizes only the sun to accomplish the task. For those preferring the softer feel of machine-dried, tossing line-dried laundry into a dryer for a few minutes for softening is an option that uses less energy than regular drying because the laundry is already dry when placed in the machine.
Of course, line drying is more time consuming and physically demanding and may draw the ire of neighbors not wishing to see laundry flapping in the wind. Those who live in a warm-weather state, like consumers taking part in the Arizona Cash for Appliances program, would also have less problems with this method than their cold-weather counterparts.
For those opposed to line drying, investing in an Energy Star-rated washer can markedly reduce energy consumed by their dryers. An array of available front-loading (and some newer top-loading) washers spin their loads at high speeds (up to 1,050 RPM with the Whirlpool Duet). Such rapid spinning removes far more water from loads than the older, slower spin cycles of yesterday. Less remaining water means less drying time, which means less energy consumed.
Newer dryers, while not Energy Star-rated, can also be more eco-friendly through moisture sensors. While these dryers don’t run any more efficiently, they do turn themselves off when laundry is dry rather than continuing to operate for a set time.
Dryers may be a decade or three behind the crowd when it comes to energy efficiency, but they’re finally making their way into the new millennium. Promising new technology and increasing consumer awareness can make even clothes dryers a little more earth-friendly.
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