Let’s say you wanted to save energy….
Posted July 13, 2009 at 1:19 pm by Ian Byington
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind...and in the sun.
One of my great friends, Jerry Gentemann, writes from Tokyo that the answer to reducing our energy consumption is right under our noses (and as we’ll find over the next century, includes using the free solar power just out the window).
There already are people on the island working to re-write neighborhood covenants & getting the clothes out there:
Fight for the “Right to Dry!”
What if legislators learned dryers use 10 to 15% of domestic energy in the United States!
What if they found out that this reduction could be obtained right away, at a negligible cost? What if they discovered that the savings would be obtained by using less power from coal-burning plants and dams, relying instead on energy from the sun? And what if they saw that the primary impediments to such a conversion were fussy provisions in the rules for residential subdivisions?
An unbeatable coalition of legislators would form. Crusaders against global warming and boosters of alternative energy would make common cause with advocates of consumers’ economic interests and defenders of property rights. Greens, blues and reds would join to support a House Bill and would then scramble to take credit for its approval.
Changing our mindset: This is a beautiful use of the sun, which could shut down the coal fired plants....
Apparently clotheslines are associated in some people’s minds with urban tenements and rural poverty. Such people don’t want to walk — or more likely, drive — through their neighborhood and see someone’s shirts and towels flapping in the breeze. Actually, the shirts and towels probably aren’t the problem — it’s the idea of underwear in plain view that induces waves of dread and fear of falling property values.
Opponents might change their minds if they knew that the U.S. Department of Energy reported that they could cut their electric bills by an average of 5.8 percent by spending a few dollars on a length of cord and a bag of clothespins.
Even if the weather permits outdoor clothes drying only half the time, the savings would be noticeable. About 17 percent of clothes dryers run on natural gas. These appliances are more efficient, but a clothesline still costs less.
Should we have to fight for the “Right to dry”? There is even a petition to get clothes lines up at the White House.
You can support the San Juan Update by doing business with our loyal advertisers, and by making a one-time contribution or a recurring donation.
6 comments...
thanks Ian…hope it gets folks thinking…Bear
Wonderful article, Ian. I bet the picture of the clothes hanging from building to building is in Italy, right? As a native New Yorker, clotheslines were everywhere, sometimes running building to building. Maybe it was the European influence in NY that brought the clotheslines? (They used to joke that the flag of Naples was clothes hanging out on a line.)
During World War 2 people had victory gardens, so that the Allies would be successful. This kind of thing, using clotheslines, is exactly the same kind of thing, a simple and eaasy thing we all need to do to decrease our incredible energy guzzling. Thank you for posting this. It reminds us how easy the answers can be.
My dryer broke in May, and I’ve been hanging up my clothes since. It is way to easy, and I can’t afford to fix the dryer anyway till I get more work. Your article, and your friend Jerry’s words, make me know I will probably never go back.
The green way is often the best way, the easy way, the gentle way. Good idea, thanks for your posting.
I live in Alabama, but I read your news almost daily. Postings like this one are why. Your love for the Earth, our Mother, touches me. Thank you for the love you share with what you write. I hope I live in an island like yours one day.
By submitting a comment you grant the San Juan Update a perpetual license to reproduce your words and name/web site in attribution. Inappropriate, irrelevant and contentious comments may not be published at an admin's discretion. Your email is used for verification purposes only, it will never be shared.