To reduce the environmental burdens caused by the methods used to dry domestic laundry, we undertook a survey-based questionnaire on current attitudes and practices related to drying clothes in the rainy season, in winter, and in other seasons (“other seasons” referred to as “normal seasons” hereafter) in three areas with significantly differing climates: Tohoku and Hokuriku, Kanto, and Setouchi. The results indicate that in normal seasons, people in all three areas dried their clothes primarily by air-drying outdoors. The survey also indicated high satisfaction with this method. However, during the rainy season and in winter, more households dried clothes by air-drying indoors and machine-drying. The prevalence of specific practices varied significantly by area. In Tohoku and Hokuriku, many households air-dried clothing indoors. The percentage of households air-drying clothes indoors was approximately 40% in the rainy season and 60% in winter, and survey participants in this area indicated high satisfaction with this method. On the other hand, laundry habits in Kanto and Setouchi featured less air-drying indoors by itself and more drying that combined air-drying indoors with machine-drying. The survey results indicated participants in Kanto and Setouchi were more satisfied with this combined approach than with air- drying indoor alone. The survey confirmed the usefulness of air-drying outdoors as a method for drying clothes, delivering low environmental impact and high satisfaction. However, air-drying indoors and machine-drying were seen as essential in all areas. The need to reduce environmental burdens will make it paramount to shift to clothing that offers high drying performance, to use dryers with low CO
2 emissions, and to redesign living environments on the assumption of a preference for air-drying indoors.
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