Rescaling the energy label for washing machines: an opportunity to bring technology development and consumer behaviour closer together

Boyano, A.; Espinosa, Nieves; Villanueva, Alejandro

doi:10.1007/s12053-019-09829-4

Cited by 11 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…This will ensure that it will be easier to find and select good products, and to complain about the poor ones. Authorities can also set minimum standards to phase out the worst products on the market, akin to energy labelling requirements for electrical appliances (Boyano et al 2020).…”

Section: Best Practice Garment Usementioning

confidence: 99%

Reducing environmental impacts from garments through best practice garment use and care, using the example of a Merino wool sweater

Wiedemann¹,

Biggs²,

Nguyen³

et al. 2021

Int J Life Cycle Assess

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Purpose Garment production and use generate substantial environmental impacts, and the care and use are key determinants of cradle-to-grave impacts. The present study investigated the potential to reduce environmental impacts by applying best practices for garment care combined with increased garment use. A wool sweater is used as an example because wool garments have particular attributes that favour reduced environmental impacts in the use phase. Methods A cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to compare six plausible best and worst-case practice scenarios for use and care of a wool sweater, relative to current practices. These focussed on options available to consumers to reduce impacts, including reduced washing frequency, use of more efficient washing machines, reduced use of machine clothing dryers, garment reuse by multiple users, and increasing number of garment wears before disposal. A sixth scenario combined all options. Worst practices took the worst plausible alternative for each option investigated. Impacts were reported per wear in Western Europe for climate change, fossil energy demand, water stress and freshwater consumption. Results and discussion Washing less frequently reduced impacts by between 4 and 20%, while using more efficient washing machines at capacity reduced impacts by 1 to 6%, depending on the impact category. Reduced use of machine dryer reduced impacts by < 5% across all indicators. Reusing garments by multiple users increased life span and reduced impacts by 25–28% across all indicators. Increasing wears from 109 to 400 per garment lifespan had the largest effect, decreasing impacts by 60% to 68% depending on the impact category. Best practice care, where garment use was maximised and care practices focussed on the minimum practical requirements, resulted in a ~ 75% reduction in impacts across all indicators. Unsurprisingly, worst-case scenarios increased impacts dramatically: using the garment once before disposal increased GHG impacts over 100 times. Conclusions Wool sweaters have potential for long life and low environmental impact in use, but there are substantial differences between the best, current and worst-case scenarios. Detailed information about garment care and lifespans is needed to understand and reduce environmental impacts. Opportunities exist for consumers to rapidly and dramatically reduce these impacts. The fashion industry can facilitate this through garment design and marketing that promotes and enables long wear life and minimal care.

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Section: Best Practice Garment Usementioning

confidence: 99%

Reducing environmental impacts from garments through best practice garment use and care, using the example of a Merino wool sweater

Wiedemann¹,

Biggs²,

Nguyen³

et al. 2021

Int J Life Cycle Assess

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…However, the effectiveness of this policy may change depending on the message (how and in what form it is provided) and the country [41]. According to a recent study by Boyano [42], including an additional time parameter related to the duration of the programme in the energy efficient index would result in energy savings of up to 2.31 TWh/year in the EU by 2030. In this case, there is a significant amount of uncertainty since the development of market players could influence the results of the measure.…”

Section: Discussion and Policy Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Time-Use Behaviour on Residential Energy Consumption in the United Kingdom

2021

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In order to have the best possible chance of achieving ‘decent work’ and ‘climate action’ as laid forth in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, government and policy makers must pay close attention to current time-use patterns, as well as the way these might change in the near future. Here we contribute to the existing literature on time-use behaviour through a systematic exploration of the relationship between working patterns and energy consumption from the perspective of time-use. Our starting point is the premise that different work arrangements impact the timing of energy demand not only in workplaces, but also at home. Using the data from the 2014–2015 UK time-use survey, we were able to capture patterns of time-use behaviours and to assess their relationship with daily energy consumption. We propose a systematic time-use-based approach for estimating residential energy consumption with regards to activity timing, activity location, activity coordination, and appliance type. We use this method to discover patterns in residential activities and energy consumption, as well as the causal relationship between residential energy consumption and work patterns. In this study, we unpack the heterogeneity in the work–energy relationship, particularly when comparing full-time and part-time workers. Our results suggest that full-time employees have a higher potential to reduce their energy use compared to part-time employees. We also discover a non-linear change in total energy consumption for respondents with varying levels of work time. Energy consumption reductions associated with differences in work schedules are greatest during the first few hours of the workday, but then level off. Our findings suggests that time-use data can provide useful insights for evaluating and possibly designing energy and labour-market policies.

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“…Our estimate for the UK was 0.150 kwh/wash cycle of t-shirts (0.068 kwh per wear), which shows that for the UK, the cleaning estimations made for the care of a viscose blouse are closer to current cleaning practices for t-shirts (lower laundering temperature and reduced use of clothes dryers). Additionally, differences between the two studies are likely caused by differences in system boundaries as well as improvements in the efficiencies of washing machines and driers since 2006 [81].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Laundry Care Regimes: Do the Practices of Keeping Clothes Clean Have Different Environmental Impacts Based on the Fibre Content?

Laitala¹,

Klepp²,

Kettlewell³

et al. 2020

Sustainability

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Clothing maintenance is necessary for keeping clothing and textiles functional and socially acceptable, but it has environmental consequences due to the use of energy, water and chemicals. This article discusses whether clothes made of different materials are cleaned in different ways and have different environmental impacts. It fills a knowledge gap needed in environmental assessments that evaluate the impacts based on the function of a garment by giving detailed information on the use phase. The article is based on a quantitative wardrobe survey and qualitative laundry diary data from China, Germany, Japan, the UK and the USA. The largest potential for environmental improvement exists in reducing laundering frequency and in the selection of washing and drying processes, and through a transition to fibres that are washed less frequently, such as wool. Adopting best practice garment care would give larger benefits in countries like the US where the consumption values were the highest, mainly due to extensive use of clothes dryers and less efficient washing machines combined with frequent cleaning. These variations should be considered in environmental assessments of clothing and when forming sustainability policies. The results indicate the benefits of focusing future environmental work on consumer habits and culture and not only technologies.

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Rescaling the energy label for washing machines: an opportunity to bring technology development and consumer behaviour closer together

Cited by 11 publications

References 11 publications

Reducing environmental impacts from garments through best practice garment use and care, using the example of a Merino wool sweater

Reducing environmental impacts from garments through best practice garment use and care, using the example of a Merino wool sweater

Impact of Time-Use Behaviour on Residential Energy Consumption in the United Kingdom

Laundry Care Regimes: Do the Practices of Keeping Clothes Clean Have Different Environmental Impacts Based on the Fibre Content?

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