How to save energy with wool

5 tips to reduce your energy bill and help the planet

Saving energy has always been important for our pockets, but also for the climate. Now, with the world being a bit in turmoil, our next energy bill will most likely be higher than usual. There are many ways how to save energy to reduce our energy bills. And guess what? There is a way of saving energy by wearing wool. Do you think this sounds crazy? Hear us out and read about the 5 ways how wool can help you reduce your energy bill. 

1 Wash less often

We have mentioned many times in some of our other blog posts that garments made from wool are odour resistant. This means your merino garments will not start to smell when you wear and sweat into them. You can easily get 3 wears out of your merino t-shirt before you might want to wash it. So, how does that save energy? If you wear a garment several times before washing, you don’t run the washing machine as much, which saves energy (and water and detergent by the way). 

2 Refresh without washing

Another energy-saving tip about merino wool is that a wool garment can be refreshed without actually throwing it into a washing machine. Wool can release smells into the air by just hanging in the fresh air. If fresh air is not an option, you can hang your wool garment in your bathroom after you have taken a hot shower. The moist air will do its magic of freshening your wool garment. If your wool garment has a stain, you can try removing it with a damp cloth as wool often doesn’t absorb stains, they just stay on the surface of the fabric. 

3 Wash cold 

Of course, once in a while, you do want to throw your wool garments into the washing machine. If you read the washing instructions carefully, you will notice that only a cold wool cycle is recommended. Wool cycles on a washing machine tend to either wash with cold or 30 °C warm water. Wool does not do well with higher washing temperatures, but rest assured, your garments will still get clean. The benefit of washing at lower temperatures is of course the saving of energy. In addition, wool cycles tend to run shorter than a regular cycle, which also saves energy. 

4 Air dry

Some drying machines have a special program for wool, however, wool dries best on a good old clothesline and this takes up no energy at all. Some wool garments like a heavy wool sweater will prefer to be lying on the clothesline, but most garments can handle the hanging on the clothesline.  

5 Reduce your heating temperature and stay cozy up in wool

Besides reducing the consumption of electricity, we can also reduce the energy used for heating. By reducing the room temperature in your home by one-degree Celsius, you can save up to 6% on heating costs. With winter just around the corner, however, freezing in your home may not sound so inviting. But, you can reduce your room temperature and stay cozy by putting on an extra layer of wool. This can be a wool sweater or a base layer, so you will stay comfortably warm, save some money on your energy bill and do something good for the planet.

Finally, you may argue, that saving energy is all nice and well, but if you need to spend more money on a wool garment compared to garments made from other fibres, the saving part is not really noticeable, is it? This may indeed sound counterintuitive, to spend more money on a garment to save money during the maintenance of the garment. However, research has shown that wool garments last longer compared to other fibre garments, this means you get more value out of the garment compared to having to buy something new again and again because the garment wears out easily. If you want to find out more about this aspect, you can read all about it in one of our other blog posts here and here. 

We hope you found these 5 energy-saving tips useful. Please let us know if you have another energy-saving tip to share when it comes to taking care of your laundry.