The greenest and most economical way to dry clothes is by air-drying them. However, air-drying clothes indoors is time consuming. Meanwhile, air-drying clothes outdoors is only possible if the weather is clear and warm. Thus, to make drying clothes faster and more efficient you will have to use an electric-powered dryer. Electric-powered clothes dryers use either electricity or gas to actually dry the clothes inside.

Gas Dryers

Gas heated dryers use gas burners to supply the heat needed to dry clothes. Initially, buying a gas heated dryer will cost you more than what it would cost you to purchase an electrical heated dryer. However, because gas dryers are more energy efficient that electric dryers, it costs less to maintain a gas heated dryer.

Statistics show that for the same amount of time, gas dryers can finish drying three loads of laundry, while an electric dryer can finish drying only one load. The reason for this is that gas heated dryers have a higher heat setting, making it possible for it to dry clothes in about one third the amount of time as compared to electric heated dryers. This means that you will also spend less on electricity when you use a gas heated dryer.

In general, appliances that utilize gas energy are more efficient that electric energy . Gas heated appliances heat up faster and at higher temperatures at that, thus making them time and cost efficient. The efficiency of clothes dryers is measured in pounds per kilowatt-hour or what is known as Energy Factor. The minimum Energy Factor a gas heated dryer should have is 2.67 EF.

Electric Clothes Dryers

Electric heated clothes dryers use heating coils to provide heat to dry the clothes. You will know if it is an electric dryer if it is a combination washer-dryer machine.

Like gas-heated dryers, the efficiency of electric heated dryers is measured in Energy Factor as well and must have a minimum EF of 3.01 . Electric clothes dryers cost around $50 less that gas dryers. But because electric dryers do not heat up as fast as gas dryers, it takes longer to dry the clothes, therefore causing you to spend more on electricity in the long run.