Bankrate: Saving Green By Going Green: Laundry
By Kristin Arnold • Bankrate.com

Supers:
Sarah Marmion / FPL Specialist: 50 - :55
Stacy Johnson CPA 1:16 - 1:34

Standup Intro: If you're ready to start going green, but don't know where to start, just head over to your laundry room. A few simple changes in the way you wash can help you save money and save the planet. Bankrate.com takes a look at how to save green on your dirty laundry.

Voice over 1: Americans wash an estimated 35- Billion loads of laundry per year, so the laundry room is a smart and easy place to go green.

Voice over 2: First, stay out of hot water! Wash your clothes in warm or cold water. Almost 90-percent of the energy used to wash clothes comes from heating the water. A tip: check out a detergent formulated for cold-water use.

Voice over 3: For Rinse cycles, turning that dial from Hot to warm will cut your energy use by 50-percent per load. That can mean about $63-bucks a year back in your budget. But the best plan is to Rinse only in Cold Water. You'll cut energy use by 90-percent. If everyone in the U.S. switched from a hot-hot to a warm-cold laundry cycle, we could save the energy equivalent of 100-thousand barrels of oil a DAY!

Voice over 4: Don't overload the washer OR dryer and clean that lint filter before every load:

SOT: "...your dryer will run that much more efficiently, and it won’t take as long to dry your clothes.”

Voice over 5: If your dryer has an Auto Sensor, use it:

SOT: "...when your clothes are dry, why spend another15-minutes of energy spinning dry clothes?"

Voice over 6: Better yet: line dry or air-dry laundry as much as you can. It adds up to about $10 a month savings, because clothes dryers are the third-largest energy users in your home... right behind the fridge and washing machine.

Standup: And one last thing: some utility companies offer lower rates for off-peak hours. So call yours and find out. If they do, run your washer & dryer during those times. One quick phone call and you're saving green by going green. For Bankrate.com, I’m Kristin Arnold.