Harbus

Issue date: 2/11/08 Section: Green Living

Media Credit: Andre Beisert (NE) Showing the Love: HBS Partner Fernanda Maria Pirozelli de Oliveira cleans the lint filter before drying her laundry.

Laundry has traditionally been neglected when people consider energy and water conservation. However, 81,000 gigawatt hours of electricity and 2.4 trillion gallons of water are consumed each year in the U.S. by laundry, and this generates 13 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions. At Harvard, we also incur high consumption of electricity and water for laundry - but fortunately, our usage is not as high as it was several years ago.

In 2004, Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Science (FAS) Resource Efficiency Program (REP) proposed to change the laundry system in the College. FAS then began investigating the potential for a complete replacement of its old, top-loading washing machines with energy-efficient front-loaders. Keenly aware of the potential benefit of new-generation of Energy Star® washing machines, FAS and Harvard Operations successfully convinced its washer/dryer provider, MacGray Corporation, to upgrade all its washers to the Maytag Neptune. Compared to conventional models, the Maytag Neptune uses less than half the water, provides space for larger loads, and uses 60% less energy for heating, which has generated an annual cost avoidance of $67,650. The successful installation of the Maytag Neptune washers with FAS has led to their installation across the entire Harvard campus.

Although installing more efficient washing machines has decreased consumption of both energy and water, every student on campus can help increase the magnitude of this effort by making simple changes. To assist students with their efforts, the Graduate Green Living Program (GGLP) has posted signs in laundry rooms showing residents how they can use the laundry machines efficiently, as well as make other environment-friendly laundry choices.

The Green Living Representatives will soon launch a laundry quiz to test and hopefully improve their peers' laundry knowledge, with prizes including eco-friendly (vegetable-based, biodegradable, and phosphate free) laundry detergent. To further promote care for the environment while doing laundry, GGLP will give away samples of dropps™, self-dissolving pouches of eco-friendly laundry detergent that create less waste than jug and cup detergents. Please keep an eye out for the outreach efforts of the Green Living Representatives and prepare to participate!

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