Heat-Pump Clothes Dryers Finally Reach U.S.

Even as other household appliances have become more efficient, residential clothes dryers have been stuck in the past, with their decades-old electric-resistance heat and tumble-dry technology mostly unchanged for the last 40-plus years. Dryers are now the largest energy-consuming standard appliance in most U.S. homes, and they account for 6% of residential electricity use, according to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

The most energy-efficient dryers available today—ventless, heat-pump models—have been available in Europe since the late 1990s, but the U.S. has been slow to adopt the technology. That is finally changing, with Whirlpool now offering the U.S. EPA Emerging Technology Award-winning HybridCare ventless heat-pump dryers in North America.