This Earth Day, cold water washing is a really easy and effective way to start little steps toward green living. 

In Boston, if all households switched to cold water laundering for a year, the electricity and natural gas saved could provide as much energy as 23 million gallons of gasoline or we would save enough energy to meet the electricity needs of Logan Airport for 1.4 years!  And if all households the Boston area switched to cold water laundering for a year, as much as 281 million pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions could be avoided.   

To commemorate Earth Day, Boston families can make a meaningful impact on the environment by doing just one simple thing: wash laundry in cold water. The heating of water is one of the largest uses of energy in a typical American household, accounting for up to 80 percent of the energy used per wash load.  Consider the benefits:

If a Boston household switched to cold water washing for a year, the family would save enough energy to:
o   Watch TV for: 1,363 hours
o   Play an Xbox 360: 684 hours
o   Charge an iPhone 4S: 30,861 times
o   Power an average new refrigerator for: nearly 4 months
o   Drive an average car or light truck: 277.6 miles

Consumers aren't sacrificing clean clothes for the cause: today's detergents, like P&G's Tide Coldwater, are specially formulated to perform optimally in cold water.

As a bonus and an incentive for people promising to start green living, the campaign’s Facebook page is giving away a Maytag washer/dryer and a year’s supply of Tide Coldwater just for a “like” - pretty awesome and a great way to “take a load off” household expenses.  Page is http://www.facebook.com/futurefriendly

Happy Earth Day!