Don’t Bother Using Hot Water to Wash Your Laundry

Old laundry habits are hard to kick. But washers have changed, so have laundry detergents and you no longer have to use hot water to get clothes clean. You’ll save energy washing in cold water, and here’s why.

Even though they use less water, newer washers are much better at cleaning than the top-loaders with a center agitator made 15 years or more ago. Manufacturers have been lowering wash temperatures over the years to meet the Department of Energy’s tough energy standards for hot water use. Heating water accounts for about 90 percent of the energy needed to run a washer, according to Energy Star, so the less hot water used, the more energy saved. These changes meant laundry detergents had to adapt too. So we asked the folks at Procter & Gamble to explain what changed.

Sales of their laundry care products account for 53 percent of the market, according to Mintel, a market research company. "Front-loaders and high-efficiency top-loaders run normal cycles 10 percent cooler than agitator washers, and the ‘warm’ wash temperature in the U.S. has declined by 15 degrees over the past 15 years," says Tracey Long, communications manager for P&G’s fabric care products in […]

Full article: Don’t Bother Using Hot Water to Wash Your Laundry