Many leading household brands, including Ariel, Tide and Dash, can provide great results when used at reduced wash temperatures. And turning off the heat could help you help the planet.
For example, if you used New Daz (UK) in your washes, you could save 30 grams of carbon dioxide per wash.
That is equivalent to 320 grams per box (for a detergent with 10 doses), or the energy needed to power a 60-watt light bulb for six hours, or a TV for the same period of time.
Over the course of a year, you could save nine kilos of carbon dioxide, the amount of gas produced by driving 56 kilometres in your car.
And if everyone in the UK used New Daz at the recommended low temperatures, around 221,000 tons of carbon dioxide would be saved-equivalent to the amount of gas produced by the car use of 50,000 families, or the annual electricity use of 100 villages.
Similarly, with Dash 'Impeccabile a Freddo' Italians can save up to 33 per cent of their energy use. And if all of Italy used new Dash, the country would save enough electricity to power 150 villages.
Depending on where you live, other products that can help you save energy include:
- Ariel Active in Cold Water, which can be used to wash at low temperature and offers an average of 41 per cent energy savings.
- Fairy, which is more efficient because it lasts longer than any other liquid. If everyone in the UK used Fairy there would be 43 million fewer bottles transported and thrown away, which would lead to energy and material savings.
- Lenor concentrate, which can be transported more efficiently than regular Lenor; if everyone switched to the concentrated product it would save 534 tons of carbon dioxide in transport emissions alone.
- Tide Coldwater, which can help an average household cut carbon dioxide emissions by 575 kilos a year.