Here Comes the Sun!
The days are getting longer, and temperatures are rising. More and more Salem Electric members will be using air conditioners (hopefully heat pump air conditioners) to cool living spaces through hot summer months. Greater use of air conditioning can increase electricity use in our homes and add kWh charges to your electric bill.
Given the increased costs of many household budget items over the last several months, members are looking to save money anywhere they can. Warmer temperatures create a great opportunity to use the free power of the sun to dry our clothes. While many appliances have become more energy efficient over the years, clothes dryers continue to be a large energy draw in our homes.
At our house, we’ve been using a clothesline for about 10 years. In an unscientific review, we’ve found it takes about the same amount of time to dry clothes on the line as in our clothes dryer. Although we use our line throughout the year as weather allows, using our clothesline during the spring and summer allows us to save about $8.00/month (est. 4 loads/week) thanks to the power of the sun and Salem Electric’s low energy charge. This certainly helps offset some of our air conditioning cost during the hotter months. Hanging clothes to dry in the sun is an easy way to save some money, be kind to your clothes, lower the energy demand for Salem Electric, and help the environment.
