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Clothes Airers – An Ecologically Sound Option
By admin | February 8, 2008
If you’ve watched your money get fed into a laundrette service or watched your electricity bills skyrocket, you’ve already seen the downside of a tumble heated dryer. While tumble dryers are a wonderful convenience, and can dry clothes in an hour or less, have you ever considered the ecological implications of them?
Every tumble dryer runs on electricity, and most of the electricity generated in the world is made from fossil fuels. Thus, every time you run the tumble dryer, you’re adding more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, as well as sucking money out of your wallet.
Now, it’s all well and good on a bright summer day to run the laundry out on a clothes line; the breeze makes your clothes smell nice and fresh, and the sun helps dry them in a jiff. However, that’s not an option when it’s raining, or in the winter time, and it’s really not an option in urban areas, where housing associations or landlords may stop you from running the wash out.
Consider the clothes airer instead. Designed as a collapsible rack that you can drape clothes on, airers can be mounted to walls for stability, or left free standing. By placing your airer over your heating vent, you let the same warmth that keeps your house comfortable help dry your clothes.
Most airers are made of sturdy steel construction with plastic racks, and a great deal of cleverness has gone into making them compact, easily handled and affordable. The trick to adjusting your routine to an airer is to load them up every afternoon, before dinner time, and unload them in the morning – you’ll find that room temperature air with circulation will dry clothes nicely. To get that “air dried fresh scent”, set them near your potted plants, where sunlight can get on them – the water that evaporates off of them will be appreciated by your plants as well, as you fit everything into a solar driven ecosystem in your home.
The best parts of airers is their affordability. Modestly priced ones can pay for themselves in under a month’s utility bills, and they pay for themselves over and over again. There are varieties that are built to fit into odd nooks and crannies of the home, there are robust, industrial strength models, and more modest ones suitable for mounting over the radiator of an apartment or flat.
It is important that your airer get, well, enough air. Circulation is quite important for avoiding that fusty mildew smell. Sunlight is also strongly recommended if possible.
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Topics: Homewares |
