Shrinking laundry's CO2 footprint, a motorized rotary clothesline for indoor use

Rotary clotheslines — the kind with a pole in the center, folding out like an umbrella — offer a cheap and sustainable way to dry laundry outdoors. But until now, households without a yard or patio have been out of luck. While indoor drying racks provide a viable alternative, they occupy precious floor space. And on damp days, laundry can take a day or more to fully dry.

Dutch inventor Ans Clements, who started developing new products twelve years ago at age 60, alongside her career as a hairdresser, came up with a solution. The SpeedDryer is a rotary clothesline designed for indoor use. It features a small motor that gently spins the lines to speed up the drying process. Most loads of laundry will be ready in just two hours — comparable to a tumble dryer's cycle. When not in use, the device folds up for storage.

Tumble dryers rank among the most energy-intensive home appliances, using an average of 230 kWh annually and adding EUR 260 to a household's utility bills. By contrast, the SpeedDryer consumes just EUR 6.50 worth of electricity per year. Priced at EUR 219, it's an innovative adaptation of a familiar product that will appeal to consumers seeking to reduce their carbon footprint and energy costs. One to bring to apartment dwellers near you?! We're guessing it might do double duty as a cat entertainment device, too ;)