With the cost of living still on the rise, especially when it comes to energy expenses, it's crucial to find ways to cut down on household costs. One area where you can make some simple changes is in the laundry.
While line drying as much as possible and selecting energy and water efficient appliances is helpful, there are additional ways to further optimise your laundry habits and save some pennies. After all, the ongoing household expense of doing laundry can easily add up quickly, especially for households doing multiple loads of washing each week.
Here, we share four innovative ways to transform your laundry habits and make them more energy efficient:
1. Wash on a cold wash cycle as often as possible
Did you know that 80–90% of the energy used by a washing machine goes toward heating the water?1 Given this, you should be utilising cold wash cycles wherever possible to ensure your washing machine uses significantly less energy. Furthermore, lowering the temperature of your cycle is vital to reducing the environmental impact of your laundry. Up to 60% of laundry's carbon footprint2 comes from heating water.
Plus, cold water washes work to protect your clothes against fading and ensure they last longer. There are plenty of laundry detergents nowadays formulated to clean just as well at lower temperatures.
2. Shorter wash cycles
Opt for shorter wash cycles for lightly soiled clothes, particularly if your clothes aren't heavily stained, as the longer the wash, the more energy and water used.
Electrolux UltimateCare range is equipped with IntelliQuick technology, which smartly selects the quickest programme based on your laundry load for precise care and cleans a full load in 45 minutes. This removes any pre-laundry stress by providing efficient cleaning with the precise level of care for your clothes, making them last longer without additional energy or water usage.
3. Maximise washing machine loads
Instead of using smaller loads or half loads, fill your machine up as much as you can. Even if you run your washing machine with small load settings, the machine will still use a majority of the water and energy needed for a full load.
Maximising loads will save you energy and water (and time) as you’ll end up doing fewer loads.
If you are a smaller household or often only need to do half loads, you may want to consider upgrading to a machine that matches your typical load size, thus meaning you’ll be more energy efficient with each wash.
4. Use the auto-sensing feature on your dryer
Heat Pump Dryers are widely recognised as the best in terms of energy efficiency, with our heat pump dryers exceptionally designed to use significantly less energy compared to our standard condenser.
Aside from this, another good tip is to look for models with an auto-sensing feature, such as our range with 3DSense technology. Our most advanced drying technology and market-leading innovation scan the moisture level in garments for precise, complete drying. Down jackets are kept like new, warmth and fluffiness 100% restored.* Regardless of thickness, tests on duvets show perfect drying with no damp spots.**
1 Sustainability Victoria, 2024 – washing machines
2 WWF, A cold, fast wash: lower your laundry’s impact
3 National Geographic, Laundry: lightening the load
* External test to ISO 11092.
** Internal test on duvets up to 2.5kg, with synthetic and natural feather filling.
