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U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

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Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#281
post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

space cooling: 15.5% space heating: 15.2% water heating: 11.6% refrigeration: 7.1% lightning: 3.9% television: 3.7% computer: 2.4% other: 40.7% source: https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/use-of-elect...

I know it's an average, but I'm somewhat surprised that refrigeration is half of heating/cooling. I suppose gas heat offsets much of the heating requirement in some areas and some parts of the US have minimal cooling needs.

Remember that we have a box that makes the inside cold inside a box that makes the inside warm (or cold) half the year in many places.

I heat my house so that I can run a freezer inside the heated house to lower the temperature back down to what it is outside sometimes. It's not entirely efficient.

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are commercial dryers to consider too

I do not think I have ever seen an electric commercial dryer (hotels/laundromat/etc). The electric costs would be insane in comparison to gas.

Here's one: https://unimac.com/product/tumble-dryers/industrial-tumble-d...

Bigger than that goes to gas or steam only.

Note that if you're using that, you'd use an extractor, also (big centrifuge that spins the clothes so fast you can enrich uranium with it).

https://unimac.com/product/washer-extractors/uw-series-high-...

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#283

> dryer use accounts for about 6 percent of U.S. residential electricity use That's a huge amount! I didn't realize it was so much!

Every house with a washing machine has a dryer in the US. Also many are gas powered instead of powered by electricity. Similiarly for any laundromat or laundry room in an apartment complex. I've yet to have ever been to a location in the US where a dryer was not directly adjacent to the washing machine.

I've seen a few cases, but they're rare.

Much more common in the south and the desert where the weather is almost always sunny.

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#284

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Okay, so your dryer uses zero electricity, but the carbon impact is presumably still substantial?

Isn't there consensus that the industrial sector's carbon footprint is multitudes greater than residential so even a net-0 residential would barely put a dent in reducing carbon impact?

Residential energy use accounts for roughly 20% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the United States.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1922205117

So it could do something, but it's not everything.

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#285
post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> how do you imagine clothes will last longer? From my own experience + the fact that it dries at a much lower temperature.

I am questioning that fact. In my experience temperature is not destroying fabric, people used to iron their clothes for decades. Spinning in an underpowered dryer for longer will put more wear on the fabrics and stitching.

You can kind of compare the amount of lint you get, but often that is caused by the washing machine and not the dryer.

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You actually have no idea what it's like being around me. That's great. I'm grateful we live in a country where people that are compelled to always put themselves first and not have to consider other people can remove themselves from society and choose to live an isolated life away from society. I'm even more grateful for the people that recognize this about themselves and make the move. Living socially involves sa…

That's not quite it. Those in the country live socially and harmoniously. But without the pressure of breathing at the neighbors armpit, it's far easier. For instance, I contribute to the local volunteer fire department. The annual festival. The fireworks on the 4th. I pull my neighbors out of the ditch when their car slides on snow in the winter. Hell, I snowplow my stretch of gravel with my tractor if the county is…

Rural communities are great and I'm grateful for them as they are the breadbasket of our nation. Having real communities that come together to help and to celebrate things is great and I'm grateful I live in a town that's like that too. But yeah, where I live I think you need to keep the automobile on the driveway lol.

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#287
post #9

For those thinking about going no-dryer: You can also get small, indoor, foldable clothes drying racks for around $20. I used one of these my entire adult life and pretty much never needed a dryer. Later on I got a house that came with a dryer, but only use it for large items like bed sheets.

Be aware that if you are in a more modern "tight" house, that drying indoors like that can increase the moisture load tremendously, and if the house isn't setup to handle it, you can get moisture damage from drying clothes.

The water has to go somewhere, and if it's not going down the drain or out the dryer exhaust, it's going into the air. (This may be desirable in some cases to balance humidity).

Same reason that storing wet wood in the basement can lead to water issues in the walls.

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#288

I love hanging my laundry, but wouldn't appreciate it it my neighbors front yard. It is a jerk move if they have another option. I guess it falls in the free speech category. I don't like what you say but I support your right to do it. HOA residents also have the right to make binging agreements, for better or worse.

>wouldn't appreciate it it my neighbors front yard. I don't get it; why do you care?

Most people who live in non-rural areas prefer their neighbor's houses to look "somewhat" like theirs.

Whether that preference is made through laws (mandatory mowing regulations), HOAs, community shaming, etc, is another question entirely.

Those who really don't care often end up moving to rural areas anyway, where the nearest neighbor is acres or miles away.

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#289
post #194

The land of the free sure has a lot of strange rules.

From my traveling I've come to the conclusion that the US has a lot of political freedom, but very little personal freedom. The opposite is true for many other places I've spent time in.

It entirely depends on where in the USA you are.

With not much money at all, you can live in the wilds of Wyoming and nobody may even know you exist.

Re: U.S. residents fight for the right to hang laundry (2009)

#290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You agree to the contract. As simple as that.

Why would anyone do that, then?

Because developers sell to people who like "new houses" and to make those more desirable they add a HOA that says that you're safe buying your house because the HOA prevents others from changing their houses to look different from the pristine perfection that is the American Suburb.

Or it's a condominium development and you need a HOA to deal with the roof and other shared maintenance issues, and things get tacked on.

It is painfully easy to avoid a HOA if you don't want one, but once they exist they stick with the house for basically forever.

And the underlying aspect remains, which is keep poor people out (often explicitly racist, mind you): https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/ugly-legacy-latino-coupl...

Even though not enforceable, they often remain and people still sign them. https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3ppgw/californians-can-now-...

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