They can sometimes shrink your clothes to a fifth of their normal size but tumble driers, particularly in colder and wetter climes, are essential when we are unable to hang our clothes outside. Unfortunately they can be energy guzzling monsters costing us a fortune on energy bills but hopefully, things are about to change…
On 10th May Member States will be voting on a new ecodesign regulation for tumble dryers. Ecodesign policy sets minimum energy requirements on both household and industrial products.
Without regulation, the energy consumption of household driers could raise to 31TWh of electricity by 2020, which is equivalent to the average daily viewing of 170 million TVs.
While policy makers have been reluctant to introduce a mandatory shift for energy efficiency equivalent to heat pump dryers, like it already exists in Switzerland, the Coolproducts campaign, a coalition of EU NGO’s, is confident that the worst performers will soon be forced off the market and that we would join Switzerland requirements on medium term.
In addition, Coolproducts is asking the systematic use of humidity sensors for driers, which enable the driers to stop automatically when the right level of dryness is achieved. This features in many models already today.
Coolproducts believes that while the best option is to avoid driers when possible, we should not miss this voting opportunity to save on energy in EU and on energy bills for citizens. The NGO coalition is pointing out that the technology is there and industry is ready, so the time is right for strong regulation.
Once the vote has happened, we’ll be sure to update you on the outcome.