apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I love my wooden drying rack. I haven't totally given up the dryer, but anything that is not greatly improved by the machine goes on the rack. The only things that go in the machine are towels, some knit shirts, and the occasional pair of jeans. Oh, and all of my husband's stuff, but I hope that he eventually changes his mind. Even with all of my husband's stuff, we only run the dryer for 1 in 3 or 1 in 4 loads.

I don't own a dryer, as most Europeans, but this means that I have to iron most of what I wash... sometimes I wonder if ironing is even more energy consuming than using a dryer... (not that I'm going to buy a dryer, I wouldn't even know where to put it).

I use an indoor drying rack and Maggie's Soap Nuts. I have used the drying rack for a year and the soap nuts for 6 months. My clothes used to be stiff from drying on the rack but with the soap nuts they turn out real soft. The rack and the soap nuts are the totally natural way to do laundry. And they save a lot of energy. Also, I am able to use the soap nuts in the apartment without getting a lot of toxic chemicals in the air.

I'm all for drying racks as a means for saving energy, but not paying $80 bucks for it. I found one at Long's Drugstore today for $12.

Can AT be more considerate?/I'd like to save my green too.

Re: the 1934 as warmest year issue, RealClimate.org (run by climatologists), says the NASA error isn't statistically significant - the evidence for global warming doesn't rest on NASA data for one region of the US alone, it relies on worldwide measurements over a long time. 1998 is just edged out by 1934 in the US, but 2005 remains the warmest year *globally*.

The dailytech.com article also makes a false claim, that the incorrect data came from a Y2K bug - this isn't true, it came from a switch in the sources of data.

It's very important to check your information before you decide that global warming is a hoax - the same way you'd check Snopes.com before forwarding money to that nice man in Nigeria, you should check RealClimate.org before accepting the claims of journalists and bloggers who don't have a full scientific background.

Topic? I love my drying rack - I use it in summer shade when I don't want my clothes baked on the line, and in winter in front of the heater. I find that the 2D clothing comes from leaving them hanging for too long - I take them off the rack as soon as they're dry.

I'm not using a drying rack or line drying currently, but I love vinegar in the wash. If you have an old Downy ball around, fill it just to the line, close it, and toss it in. It's been great to get rid of the dryer sheets which otherwise my cat would inevitably eat.

Any ideas for line drying someone who has to tote their laundry in a giant sack to the laundromat? It seems really heavy to lug it home wet.

petmyrobot, skip the line drying and ask the laundromat to upgrade to energy efficient dryers :) I know my green efforts would reach their limit at lugging sacks of wet laundry around!

Another alternative is to use spin dryers such as at http://www.laundry-alternative.com/drying.htm
They use around 1/100th of the energy of a tumble dryer and are gentler on the clothes.