Dryers are among the costliest energy-consuming appliances in a household, representing 3.3 percent of total U.S. residential energy use, according to the Department of Energy. Per unit, electric dryers consume about 782 kilowatt hours each year while gas dryers use about 2.28 million Btu a year, according to DOE data.
That doesn’t count other environmental factors, including the resources required to build and ship them, the carbon cost of transporting them to stores and delivering them to consumers, and the pileup of discarded appliances in landfills.
The DOE recently rolled back new washer and dryer efficiency standards that were projected to save American households $2.2 billion per year on their utility bills (an 11 percent energy savings), while significantly cutting energy waste and harmful carbon pollution. CR supported those new regulations (scheduled to take effect in 2028) as a win-win for American consumers.
“Though efficiency standards may be rolled back, consumers can depend on CR’s trusted voice and Green Choice to break through the noise and provide dryer recommendations that use less energy and are better for the environment,” Whitehurst says.
The good news is that more Energy Star certified dryers—which use 20 percent less energy than standard dryers—have flooded the market in recent years. According to Energy Star, if all the dryers in America’s homes were Energy Star certified, consumers could collectively save more than $1.5 billion per year in utility costs and prevent greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to that from more than 2 million vehicles. You can find Energy Star certified products and energy rebate offers at Energystar.gov.
The bad news is that without stricter standards, lower-tier appliances will continue to waste energy. “The challenge is, how do you eliminate the lower-performing appliances altogether and get manufacturers to raise the bar on their appliances and stop passing the costs onto the consumer?” Whitehurst says.
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