New Energy-Reducing Technology-- From the Past
Posted by DJ at 6/18/2008 2:40 PM and is filed under Reduce Reuse Recycle,Global Warming - Zero Emissions Challenge 
We haven't tried a clothesline to save energy because of the high afternoon winds, which carry dust— not a great way to keep the laundry clean. But our solar installer suggested a novel idea: hang our clothes out at night! The nights here are so dry and dewless that clothes dry just fine, and we can take them down in the morning before the wind picks up. So, at least for the summer, we won't be using our propane-heated dryer.
Drying clothes on a clothesline at night is a novel idea if you grew up in New England where clothes be covered with dew in the morning. (In fact, the only place I've personally used a clothesline before is in Sri Lanka, where it's so humid they only dry in direct sunlight.)
It's also novel if, like my wife, you grew up in a city, where clotheslines are the realm of immigrants and the poor. Though I grew up in the country, I well remember, as a child, my city relatives making snide comments about the clothes hung on clotheslines across every balcony as we passed through the poorer parts of Boston.
When your mother grew up in Boston, clothes dryers were not common. Everyone, well-to do or struggling, used a clothes line even in winter when the clothes froze board stiff. We also ironed so it didn't matter if the clothes were damp. It saved "sprinkling" and rolling them up before ironing. I don't remember any snide remarks but recently when I spoke to a saleperson while trying to find a replacement clothesline for my yard, he asked if New London had a ban on outside lines as so many "classy towns" did. Perhaps the suburbs of major cities do but I think it will soon be a badge of honor to hang out your clothes so any towns with bans will be under pressure to lift them. There is nothing nicer than the smell of sheets right off the line.
Your mother.
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Thanks, Mom. I remember that smell from when I was a kid in the country.
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I didn't know some town/cities have bans on outside clothes lines. Growing up we had a clothes line in the backyard as did the other people on the block. My Mom said that the sun was the best thing for cotton underwear. All I can say about that is my underwear won't be flying outside. DJ brings me such wonderful things, "look honey I brought you a clothes line!" He said he would help with this chore and he has been.
Suellen
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