In 2013, NEEA studied the household laundry process in 50 homes. The purpose of the study was to understand the nature of household laundry loads, the number of laundry loads and laundry cycles (not the same thing) per year, and the energy use and operating characteristics of newer model clothes dryers. The participating homes for this focused study were chosen from the larger regional group of Residential Building Stock Assessment (RBSA) participants. The data has been used to support proposed changes to the federal test procedures for clothes dryers, and to support the development of NEEA’s residential clothes dryer initiative. The core field study protocols are now being used nationally and regionally to further support test procedure development and the NEEA clothes dryer initiative.
