The world, the climate, the environment

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  • I heard somewhere that in some parts of the UK and USA it is against the law to dry your laundry outside on an 'old-fashioned' washing line. So a powered drier (eg tumble drier) has to be used. Could this madness be actually true?
  • Merry Vole wrote: »
    I heard somewhere that in some parts of the UK and USA it is against the law to dry your laundry outside on an 'old-fashioned' washing line. So a powered drier (eg tumble drier) has to be used. Could this madness be actually true?

    There are local bylaws in some cities and communities about this, that are mostly to do with the unsightliness of drying washing in public. In my city, you can dry washing in your back yard, but not in front of your house.

    I understand that there exist homeowner's associations that prohibit all drying on a washing line, but HOAs are evil, and the last refuge of tinpot neighborhood dictators, so I wouldn't ever live in a place that had one.

    I'll note that the weather here is often not conducive to drying laundry on the line. We couldn't get through winter without having a tumble dryer, and even in the summer, if you're not home during the day, then pegging the washing out and hoping it's not raining when you get home can be a bit of a chancy prospect.

    Plus it's quicker to dump it in the tumble dryer than to peg it on the line.
  • ArethosemyfeetArethosemyfeet Shipmate, Heaven Host
    We have bad weather too. We have airers indoors and (nowadays) dehumidifiers for those times outside is not doable.
  • Raptor EyeRaptor Eye Shipmate
    edited October 2024
    Laundry is sometimes washed more often than necessary too. I hate tumble driers - outside in the summer is best, inside on an airer in the winter takes longer but it dries in the end.
  • I’ve never lived anywhere in the UK where there were restrictions on hanging laundry out. I use the washing line in the summer but the rest of the year we use a dryer rack over the stairs with a pulley. I’ve never owned a tumble dryer, even when my children were in cloth nappies.
  • No American Automaker is currently building sedans. They have moved to SUV (Suburban Utility Vehicles) which are technically trucks which have different fuel economy standards,
  • BroJamesBroJames Purgatory Host
    edited October 2024
    I’ve never lived anywhere in the UK where there were restrictions on hanging laundry out. I use the washing line in the summer but the rest of the year we use a dryer rack over the stairs with a pulley. I’ve never owned a tumble dryer, even when my children were in cloth nappies.
    It’s not that uncommon in England to have a restrictive covenant not to hang washing in the front garden of the property or over a balcony. Often it’s about preserving the appearance of an area. Sometimes it may not be enforceable though.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 0
    edited October 2024
    Just fwiw, I went from Bristol to Newcastle on the train last week. It was expensive (ie more than £100 return) but I thought it was worth it. I was also able to get a cheap upgrade so went first class for the first time in my life.

    I would never fly this kind of distance if there was an alternative. If I was really short of funds, I would travel by bus/coach if the journey was essential.

    Generally I think that train travel for intercity journeys is about the price it ought to be and air travel is way too cheap for journeys under 500 miles.

    That said, travelling from SW England to Austria by train and ferry in the Summer was a bit extreme even for me.
  • North East QuineNorth East Quine Purgatory Host
    edited October 2024
    I’ve never lived anywhere in the UK where there were restrictions on hanging laundry out. I use the washing line in the summer but the rest of the year we use a dryer rack over the stairs with a pulley. I’ve never owned a tumble dryer, even when my children were in cloth nappies.

    Having seen hundreds of title deeds in my lawyering days, I'd say it was normal to specify that laundry had to be dried in back gardens, with a prohibition against drying clothes in front gardens.

    We have a tumble drier. If I've had washing out all day and it still isn't dry, it goes in the tumble drier to finish off.
  • Martin54Martin54 Suspended
    edited October 2024
    RockyRoger wrote: »
    It's Bollocks.

    How can you say that! We'll go, globally, from capturing 0.1% to 1% in 6 years!! If we can keep that order of magnitude rate up we'll have cracked it in 18!!!!
  • KoF wrote: »
    To me, the problem is that there are so many corporations involved which lead to perverse incentives to do the wrong thing. Working out what even is the right thing is really difficult.

    For example. The British government has just decided to fund carbon capture projects. Tens of billions of £. As far as I can tell, none of these ideas have ever worked.

    At the same time we are told that incinerating plastic is a good thing.

    But surely the one thing we know about lots of types of plastic is that they do not degrade for thousands of years. And they are a fossil fuel in solid form. So if we wanted to prevent the greenhouse gases from plastics being released into the environment, wouldn't we store them in a protected place rather than burning them?

    I don't know how much these carbon capture schemes are supposed to capture, but it wouldn't be a surprise to me to learn that it is of a similar scale to these kinds of emissions. Burning something in order to later capture it again. That's madness.

    There's a BBC report today about burning plastic https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp3wxgje5pwo
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