Ode to energy efficient washing machines and following an ethical model

Yes, clean clothes are a must; not many things are worse than the smell of body odor. But one thing that may be worse in terms of the environment is how much wasted water and energy your standard washing machine could be creating. When it comes time to thinking about being a more ethical consumer you can look to appliances in your home and how they could be running more efficiently. You may have already heard by now but there is a little thing called and Energy Star Label and these are given to appliances and devices that meet certain criteria to then be deemed much more energy
efficient than their conventional counterparts.

Washing machines and the amount of loads you do in your home come in third for the biggest contributes to your home's energy consumption. In fact the average household will do about 400 loads of laundry annually and if you want to cut back the amount of energy and water you are using you will do well to purchase an Energy Star Label washing machine. These will cut back energy usage by at least 50 percent, save water, and then in turn save you about $135 a year in your utility bills. If you translate that over the lifespan of the washer you will have saved enough to pay for the matching dryer as well, which will improve your ethical model all the more.

So then are all energy efficient washers created equal? Not necessarily and for that the Energy Star Label comes in handy as it will clearly show you how each specific model stacks up in regards to the others. There is a little scale you can use as a barometer that rates each model in terms of how much power it uses and other helpful stats. You want one with a higher Modified Energy Factor (MEF) and then a lower Water Factor (WF). This means it will use the least amount of water and most efficiently use all the energy it is supplied with.

Finally different features can improve your status as an ethical consumer. Choose one that is front loading and they will use the least amount of water for every load. Also you want one with a faster spin speed so that it will cut back your reliance on an extended dryer time. Also you can choose one with an automatic sensor and this little device will calculate the size of your load and then use a varying amount of water accordingly. Finally in terms of your own laundry habits try to only do loads that are full. This way you can reduce how many you do and in turn cut back on the amount of energy and water you home is consuming. Reducing your carbon footprint and preserving what water we have doesn't have to be a monumental task, but by tweaking what you are currently doing you can make strides in saving our
Earth.