The Sydney Morning Herald reports that electric clothes dryers in the US represent about 6 per cent of domestic power consumption and this doesn't account for commercial laundromats or the 17 million homes with gas-powered dryers.
Very few US citizens buck the system by having backyard clothes lines that dry clothes using wind and solar power.
However, civil disobedience is practised by some US citizens, including Sharon Vocke, who routinely breaches regulations when she hangs her laundry on her line, homemade of course - there is little joy for Hills hoist retailers here.
Mrs Vocke's line is rigged with a pulley system and slung from her porch to the garage in this affluent pocket of sweeping, unfenced gardens and sprawling homes.
"It takes me about six minutes to violate my neighbourhood covenant and it's worth every second to have my clothes smell nice and to know I am not harming the air we breathe," the 46-year-old said recently in a submission to Connecticut's General Assembly Energy and Technology Committee.
The committee was considering a law giving homeowners the right to use clotheslines despite neighbourhood fears that displays of underwear would undermine property values. But as with similar proposals in Vermont and New Hampshire, the reformers failed and bans stay in place.The town of Poughkeepsie in New York State has a "laundry law" and imposes $US100 ($106) fines on anyone caught drying on front porches.
Bans on clotheslines seem to be based on the opinion they are unsightly and a mark of poverty.
2 comments:
I have blogged about this before. I never really understood it during my many years of living in America, with glorious drying weather most of the year in most of the country. Not only do Americans have driers, but they have BIG dryers. Changing this mindset could make a big difference in power consumption.
I live in Texas, and I use my clothesline all the time. Having a clothesline was the first thing I asked for when we got a house. There are those in this country that look down on people who use them. Does not bother me at all. I love the fresh clean smell of my laundry. And not being able to hang stuff out is the ONLY reason I dislike rain. I must admit ... I do not hang undergarments on the line. To me that is a privacy that should not be aired.
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