KNOXVILLE, Tenn — Washing your clothes in cold water protects a lot more than just your clothes. It could save you money, time and help the planet.
About 90% of the energy the washing machine uses goes toward heating the water, according to Cold Water Saves.
Using cold water to wash some of your clothes helps reduce this energy.
Switching to the cold water setting also helps reduce emissions.
Washing 4 out of 5 loads of your laundry in cold water could cut out more than 860 pounds of CO2 emissions every year, equivalent to planting about a third of an acre of U.S. forest.
It can also save you money. On average, it costs just 4 cents per load on the cold setting versus 68 cents per load on the hot/warm water cycle.
That could save you on average about $250 every year if you did one load a day.
Cold water is also gentler on your clothes which helps them to last longer by reducing fading and shrinking.