MAD Project Zac Cheatle
Christina Pogue
Reducing the Campus’ Impact on the Environment
Currently at Hanover we use an average of 10,975,365 kilowatts of electricity per year. This averages out to about 914,614 kilowatts of electricity per month every year. A good way for the college to cut back on this energy consumption is to install some new, high efficiency washing machines and dryers in each dorm, as well as use our current washers and dryers more efficiently.
In order for a washer and dryer model to meet the Energy Star criteria, the Modified Energy Factor must be higher than the current standard and the Water Factor must be lower. The “Modified Energy Factor (MEF), the current measure of clothes washer efficiency, is the ratio of the capacity of the washer to the energy used in one cycle”.“Water Factor (WF) measures the ratio of the quantity of water used in one cycle to the capacity of the washer”[1]. A top-load washer that is roughly the same model as the ones currently on campus, only newer,has a modified energy factor of 1.34 and a water factor of 9.10, while a front-loader has a modified energy factor of 2.49 and a water factor of 3.74[2].This shows that front-load washers are much more efficient with their water usage than top-load models.
By replacing our current washers and dryers on campus with high efficiency energy star washers and dryers, the college will be able to save a lot of money in the long term, as well as reduce its impact on the environment. We used a calculator on the Mr. Electricity website to calculate the cost per load of one student doing one load of laundry per week. That cost is $.34 for our current washer, and $.31 for our current dryer (given our cost per kilowatt of electricity is $0.074, and if our cost per 1000 gallons of water is $5.00). This comes to an average cost per load of $.65, and a cost per month of $2.83[3], and with 1000 students doing at least one load of laundry per week that would be a monthly cost of $2,830. So, if there are 800 students on Hanover’s campus that live in dorms, and each student does two loads of laundry a week, that comes to a total cost of about $54,080 (1600 loads x 52 weeks x .65 cost per load) a year for laundry. Now, students may do more than two loads of laundry a week, such as athletes, which would only increase this cost per year, but if some do less laundry, this would account for those. When compared to high efficiency front loading washing machines and high efficiency dryers, we can see how much money is wasted using our current washers and dryers, and how much money the college can save per year by installing the new washers and dryers.
Using the same calculator on Mr. Electricity, we found that the cost per load of high efficiency washer is $.16, and the cost per load of a high efficiency dryer is $.29. These add up to a cost of only $.45 per load, which is 20 cents cheaper per load than our current washers and dryers. In addition, the school would also be saving roughly a $1 per month for every one load of laundry done with the high efficiency washers and dryers at a cost of only $1.97 a month. So, if we had the same 800 students doing two loads of laundry per week at a cost of .45 per load, it would only cost the college $37,440 per year. This means that by switching to high efficiency front loading washing machines and high efficiency dryers the college can save $16,640 a year at a minimum in laundry costs. Now, the Maytag commercial high efficiency front loading washers cost about $1,300, and the high efficiency dryers cost about $1,000. So realistically the school could install five new washers and five new dryers in each dorm this summer for a total cost of $92,000 (5 washer and dryer pairs per dorm x $2300 for washer and dryer pair x 8 dorms), plus the cost of removing the old ones, it would be about $95,000 total. Given the new washers and dryers will save $16,640 year at 800 students doing two loads per week, the school can pay off the cost of $95,000 in under 5.7 years.
Not only can the high efficiency washers and dryers save money, but they will also reduce the college’s impact on the environment. The Maytag Commercial Energy Advantage High-Efficiency Front-Load Washer and dryer, carry a CEE Tier III, Energy Star rating. The washer uses 76% less water and 77% less energy than the traditional top loading washers we have now, and the dryers use 30% less electricity[4]. The dryers also come with moisture sensors which will shut the dryer off when the clothes are dry so it doesn’t waste energy, and this alone can lead to electricity savings of 15% a year[5].
In addition to installing new high efficiency washers and dryers, there are other relatively cheap ways of reducing the amount of energy we use for laundry, such as using the current washers and dryers more efficiently. First off, 90% of the electricity used by washing machines is used to heat the water[6], so if the school only uses cold water for the washing machines then it will save a lot of energy and money. Eliminating hot water means that we would only use 10% of the current energy used per load of laundry. By charging students to do laundry, students will be more conservative with the number of loads they wash, and the number of loads run will decrease since the costs to do laundry increased. Another way to save energy and money is by simply changing the settings on the dyers so the drying time can be selected in 5 minute increments, from 5 to 60 minutes. This will lead to large savings because then students who only need to dry one or two shirts will not have to put them in the dryer for 60 minutes.
Investing in laundry appliances that have a higher efficiency would reduce the amount of electricity consumed on the campus, and since the energy we use comes from coal, it would decrease the amount of green-house gasses emitted at power plants. This would help slow global-climate change. Conserving water is also an important step to help protect our environment. This will not only preserve the quantity of drinking water available, but the water we use is first cleaned at treatment plants.After it is used, it is cleaned again before going back to the eco-system.Therefore, using less water means that the energy used to clean it will also be conserved. By upgrading the washing machines and dryers on campus, we would be able to significantly reduce the amount of water and energy we use, along with decreasing our overall impact on the environment.
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[1] D&R International, Ltd. "Clothes Washer Product Snapshot." U.S Department of Energy. N.p., May 2008. Web. 15 Apr. 2013.
[2] "Maytag Commercial Laundry | Home Page." Maytag Commercial Laundry. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2013. <http://www.maytagcommerciallaundry.com/>.
[3] "How much does it cost to run a washing machine."Mr. electricity. MichaelBlueJay, n.d. Web. 15 Apr 2013. <http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/laundry.html>.
[4] "How much does it cost to run a washing machine."Mr. electricity. MichaelBlueJay, n.d. Web. 15 Apr 2013. <http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/laundry.html>.
[5] "Clothes dryer energy use."Mr. electricity. MichaelBlueJay, n.d. Web. 15 Apr 2013. <http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/dryers.html>.
[6] Chua, Jasmin M. "Beat the Heat, Wash in Cold." TLC. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2013. <http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/home/beat-the-heat-wash-in-cold.htm>.