IoT for energy efficient clothes laundry

Background & introduction

Washing and drying of clothes and textile accessories can take up significant amounts of water and energy.

While the washing machines and dryers are becoming more efficient through more efficient machinery and components, the use of digital technologies, especially IoT is playing a key role in making clothes laundry more efficient.

What are the key sustainability benefits?

Through the smart use of IoT for clothes washing & drying, laundry equipment can significantly cut down the amount of water used and power used, besides resulting in better clothes washing and drying. All these results in a much lower carbon footprint for the clothing laundry sector. 

How does this work?

Through the use of sensors and relevant algorithms, laundry equipment can decide on the exact amount of water to be used for washing. By constantly measuring the extent of drying, this equipment can also ensure that clothes are not overdried, resulting in lower use of electricity. In emerging use cases, IoT can also enable laundry equipment to talk to other power-consuming equipment in the house to ensure that laundry operations are run at a time when the overall demand for power for the utility is low, thus ensuring lower power bills for the household and higher efficiency of operations (and lower carbon footprint) for the utilities,

Where is innovation needed (which part of the process)?

IoT can extend its benefits to the energy-efficient laundry if it also enables people to do a mix of sun drying and power drying of their clothes.