Study reveals danger of hot wash

20 November 2012 – Today award winning conservation and environmental activist, Michelle Garforth-Venter launched the ‘Go Cold’ campaign in response to a recent study that has revealed that washing with hot water emits 24 times more Greenhouse Gasses than cold washing.

Michelle aims to mobilize South Africans to use cold water when doing their laundry.

Energy efficiency research has revealed that the average household does almost 400 loads of laundry every year, consuming about 400 kilowats of energy. “Over its lifespan of around 11 years, a washing machine uses enough water to fill three swimming pools. Now imagine how much electricity is required to heat that amount of water,” she says.

Approximately 90% of the energy required to wash a load of laundry goes towards heating the water. The irony, says Garforth-Venter, is that it is not necessary to use hot water wash cycles, more so because one ‘hot load’ costs as much as ten cold water washed loads.

“The threat is now - our planet’s resources are already under extreme pressure and without the immediate intervention of every individual, we simply will not be able to maintain our quality of life. All it takes is for each person to make changes in their daily practices to conserve electricity,” she says.

Recent research shows that 70% of South African households wash in hot water. This is largely because although most consumers believe they are
using unheated or cold water wash cycles. Only 30% of front load machine users make a conscious decision to wash at cold temperature.

Most cycles have water temperatures which are set automatically - generally in the region of 45 degrees. Selecting a cold water option on your washing
machine is the most effective way of ensuring that you are in fact, using cold water.

Over a seven-year period, switching to a cold water wash can reduce each household’s greenhouse gas impact by 90%, equivalent to removing 64% of new cars put onto the road in 2011.

“It’s the little actions that deliver big results. If we all do our bit every day we’ll have contributed to saving our planet for future generations. Be smart, do your bit to save the planet and Go Cold,” concludes Garforth-Venter.