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"Communal laundries are one of Sweden’s environmental success stories. They began as part of the post-war million homes project, when modern apartment blocks were equipped with shared tvättstugor (laundry rooms) instead of individual residents having to buy their own machines"

#Environment #Sweden #EnergyCrisis

How Sweden’s communal laundries shield renters from rising energy bills
https://theconversation.com/how-swedens-communal-laundries-shield-renters-from-rising-energy-bills-279415

How Sweden’s communal laundries shield renters from rising energy bills

Communal laundries are easy to find in Swedish apartment buildings and can provide a cheap way to do the washing.

The Conversation
Apr 4 at 12:41pmWeb
Show threadLillyLyle/Count Melancholia2d ago
@junesim63 I am still on an email mailing list from my old school in Sweden, which former students often use for renting out their flats 2nd hand. Was quite surprised to see that nearly all of them have a washing machine/dryer in their bathrooms now. Maybe just a Stockholm thing?
Show threadEliza MB2d ago
@junesim63 There seems to be a non-sequitur here: I'm struggling to understand how having fewer laundry machines shields the tenants from increased energy costs unless they have already paid for their use of the facilities.
Show threadAndrew Dalke2d ago

@OneInterestingFact @junesim63

1) power is paid by the building owners, so apartment owners don't face immediate price jumps. (Need to wait until the rents go up; ours is negotiated yearly.)

2) The article points out how booked laundry means people do fewer, larger loads, less frequently, so laundry power use is already lower.

3) In our tvättstuga we mostly use the drying room, which uses less power than the dryer.

4) (conjecture) buildings might get lower power rates than apartments?

Show threadEliza MB2d ago

@dalke @junesim63
Thank you, that answers some of my questions.

Shared laundry rooms are clearly advantageous for the reasons you mention.

Show threadAndrew Dalke2d ago

@OneInterestingFact @junesim63

I like them. In the US apartments can have shared laundry, but (in my time) they were nearly all coin op. Here they are paid by the building owner, which IMO incentivizes more efficient machines instead of a tempting profit center.

Ours at this place has three rooms in the basement - one for washer/dryer/soak tub, another w/ dehumidifier for hanging, and a third for ironing and folding. It's nice to have dedicated space for those tasks.

Alas, increasingly rare.

Show threadNemo1d ago
@dalke
you can add that industrial washing machines are quite a bit better than consumer ones.
@OneInterestingFact @junesim63
Show threadAndrew Dalke1d ago

@iinavpov @OneInterestingFact @junesim63

The article does mention the advantages of semi-industrial machines, but doesn't bring up energy savings.

As for me, our Electolux is a workhorse.

Though the circulating fan in the drying room broke last January. Its apparently hard to get a replacement for 30-40 year old hardware.

Show threadBashStKid2d ago

@junesim63 Social = shared = solidarity

The great illusion of consumerism is that it’s democratising agency and control to individuals, when in reality it’s breaking up a sizeable union of shared ownership that can stand its ground against oligarchs, leaving behind disparate groups who can’t fight back.