Air Drying Clothes

Our project is based on using less electricity to dry clothes. We are trying to reduce the amount of energy consumed by human appliances, and thus reduce the amount of pollutants, byproducts of the processes used to create such energy, released into the environment. We used a clothes line to air dry our clothes and clothes pins for outdoor and clothes hangers for indoor. The air drying process includes taking our wet clothes and putting them on the clothes line or hangers. Then, we waited for them dry through evaporation by heat or wind. This is a "greener" alternative to using gas and electric powered dryers. This results in a lower electricity and gas bill caused our different laundry routine. We are changing how we the how we dry our clothes. Each of us saved about 174 therms and 9 pounds of carbon dioxide per load. We saved an average of $0.82 per load.

Air Drying Clothes

A Personal Environmental Action Plan
by Alec Kawaguchi William Jow Zachary Ottoes

PG&E's Energy Source Distribution

In 2010, PG&E customers purchased 77,485 GWh.
Source Nuclear Unspecified Sources Natural Gas Large Hydroelectric Geothermal Biomass Wind Small Hydroelectric Other Fossil Coal Solar Percentage of Energy Production Amount in GWh 23.8% 22.9% 19.6% 15.6% 30.5% of 15.9% 26.6% of 15.9% 24% of 15.9% 18,441.43 17,744.065 15,187.06 12,087.66 3,757.64 3,277.15 2,956.83 2,254.58 929.82 774.85 of 15.9% 616.006

Natural Gas
- Natural Gas - a fossil fuel that is a mixture of hydrocarbons and gases existing in the crust of Earth - a major source of power for PG&E - source of power for most stoves and clothes dryers - is used to create heat through combustion - combustion creates carbon dioxide and water, with few other byproducts - less pollutants than most other combustion reactions - fossil fuels such as coal produce large amounts of sulfur -However, carbon dioxide can still be a potent pollutant if large quantities are present - Carbon dioxide is considered a greenhouse gas - results in the Greenhouse Effect

18.3% of 15.9% 1.2% 1% 0.5%

The Greenhouse Effect

- Greenhouse Gas - a gas in the atmosphere that absorbs radiation and is responsible for the greenhouse effect - greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide do not allow heat to escape the Earth's atmosphere - they break down the ozone layer, letting harmful radiation into the atmosphere - heats up oceans and causes ice caps to melt, destroying countless organisms habitats - Methane has 25 times the effect on the temperature of the earth over a hundred year period as carbon dioxide - methane and carbon dioxide are not the only influences on the deterioration of the environment

Pollution
- gas appliances release carbon dioxide and water through combustion inside the appliance - the combustion fumes inside the appliance are released into the atmosphere - byproducts of the combustion of fossil fuels, produce smog, or air pollution - when too much smog gets into the lungs of animals and humans, it can cause cancer - fumes from factories or power plants mix with pollutants from cars and clothes dryers to create smog - some natural gases, such as hydrogen sulfide, are toxic and water soluble, and poison local organisms with similar effects to cyanide - these gases may leak out of transportation pipes, and greatly disturb the nearby ecosystem

Alternative Power
- Although natural gas is relatively inexpensive compared to other options, the change to cleaner power is a better decision - Innovative technology such as the solar panel will help save the environment, maybe money, eventually - We substituted natural gas combustion for solar and wind energy - drying clothes through solar heat and wind instead of heat through combustion - this is an analogy to a decision made by an adult consumer, the change from non-renewable resources to renewable resources - as proven, the change is not as difficult as it might seem

Drying clothes can be on a clothesline -

Energy Consumption Reference

Household Control (therms per cycle) therms+ USD saved per week (assuming baseline charge)

Ottoes

0.2199 therms

0.8796 therms $0.88

Kawaguchi

0.1900 therms

0.7600 therms $0.76

Jow

0.2199 therms

0.8796 therms $0.88

Or through windows, like this

Natural Gas Saved

Household
Pounds of Fuel Saved Pounds of Carbon (per cycle) Dioxide Emissions Saved (per cycle)

Amount of Therms Used Throughout the Project Household Average Therms Using Only Dryer
(smaller numbers represent monthly amount, chronologically)

Average Therms While Air-Drying

(smaller numbers represent monthly amount, chronologically)

Difference
(In Therms)

Ottoes

3.735 Ibs

9.762 Ibs

Ottoes Jow

78, 92, 106

98, 64, 55

92
81, 93, 112

72.3
99, 58, 54

19.7 25

95.3

70.3

Kawaguchi

3.228 Ibs

8.436 Ibs Kawaguchi

79, 105, 123 103, 73, 62

Jow

3.735 Ibs

9.762 Ibs

102.3

79.3

23

Months (We start air-drying Month 4)

Short Term Impact

- Each of us saved an average of $0.82 per load of laundry. - This comes out to $39.36 per person over the entire time period. - We saved 6612 therms each in the six month period. - There is almost no impact with just three people, but if more participate, there can be great change.

Long Term Impact

- We reduced our carbon footprint each by about 432 pounds of greenhouse gases. - Altogether we prevented 1296 pounds of CO2 from entering the atmosphere. - In ten years, this would total up to about 6.5 tons of greenhouse gas - This will help stop the Earth from heating up too quickly, but only by a tiny fraction of a percent. - If everyone in the US stopped using dryers, we would save 203 billion therms and prevent approximately 11 billion pounds of CO2 from entering Earth's atmosphere.

Possible Sources of Error

- The dryer is not the only gas appliance in our houses - During the winter months, extra use of the gas heater will bring the meter reading up - We are not utterly relying on the clothesline - Weather conditions, such as rain, prevent the use of the clothesline

Conclusion
Each of us saved approximately 174 therms per load by not using electric and gas and air drying them. This reduced more than 9 pounds of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide per load. In a week we saved 348 therms and 18 pounds of CO2. Over this time period of 24 weeks, we saved in total around 6612 kWh and prevented approximately 432 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere. We found out that over 23% of all energy used in California comes from nuclear power plants. Because these plants do not use fossil fuels, its carbon footprint is very low in comparison with the power plants that do burn them. Also, we found that the effects of this process is the radioactive material left afterwards. This substance is dangerous to all organisms and has to be kept in secure locations where no one can be harmed by the radiation. This way to get power is also very dangerous. Accidents like Chernobyl have left miles of sterile land. Many people die every year because of nuclear power plants. Even though nuclear power is the main source of energy for California, the burning of natural gases is almost 20% of the energy consumption. This source of power spews out pollutants like carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This experiment was not without errors, however. Some members of our families still sometimes used the dryer as it was much faster and easier. Also, since the clothes lines were outside, it would be counterproductive to put the clothes outside when it rained.

Conclusion - cont.
Society benefits from this experiment because we now know how much energy we save by air drying clothes instead of using electric and gas dryers. If everyone in Los Altos stopped using their dryers and air dried their clothes instead, we could save roughly 19,920,912 therms every week if they do 2 loads of laundry every week. This would take about 515,196 pounds of carbon dioxide and methane out of the atmosphere. After a year, we could save around 1,035,887,424 therms and stop about 26,790,192 pounds of pollutants from entering Earths atmosphere. This would be a small step in slowing down global warming, but it still would be something. If the entire US air dried their clothes, the country as a whole would benefit from the decreased carbon dioxide emissions and save money. This would save 6,289,171,250,000 therms and take out about 11.2 billion pounds of carbon dioxide per year out of the 12 trillion released every year if everyone dried their clothes twice a week. This is 1% of total emissions in the US. This would be a small step in reducing pollution in the United States, but it would help the cause of stopping global warming.

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The End

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