There are washing machines and dryers in all my apartments, even the 1 bedrooms. Very few 1 bedroom apartments around here have washing machines and dryers inside them.

I have wondered why do so few apartments have washing machines and dryers inside them. Nobody wants to go to a laundromat or a coin-op laundry room in the basement of the building, and landlords know that tenants are willing to pay extra rent for an apartment with a washing machine and a dryer inside the unit. So why don’t more landlords put washers and dryers in their rentals?

I think the reason is that most landlords are old (like me) and old landlords tend to think about what was normal when they got into the business 30 or 40 years ago. Back in those days, major appliances were a lot more expensive than they are today. I don’t think most college students realize just how expensive household appliances used to be because they are too young to remember. For example, in 1970, a microwave oven cost $500. That’s over $3,000 in today’s money. Today, you can buy a brand-name microwave oven for $50. Admittedly that is an extreme example, but adjusted for inflation, all household appliances are much cheaper today than they were when I got into the landlording business in 1971. However, there is one that hasn’t changed. Back in 1970, everybody wanted a washing machine and a dryer inside their apartment – and everyone still does.

What Household Appliance Uses The Most Energy? Answer: an electric clothes dryer. The average electric clothes dryer consumes as much energy as a refrigerator, washing machine, and dishwasher combined. That is because most of the energy consumed by an electric clothes dryer is used to produce heat, which draws a lot of electricity. Most other home appliances use most or all of their electricity to turn motors, which consumes relatively little electricity. This is why all of my units have gas clothes dryers. Electric clothes dryers cost $50 to $100 less than gas clothes dryers, but they are no bargain. Drying a load of clothes with an electric clothes dryer costs about 30 cents more than drying the same load in a gas clothes dryer. That may not sound like a lot, but over the expected lifetime of a dryer, a gas clothes dryer will save around $2,000 in energy costs.

Unfortunately, most of the clothes dryers sold in the U.S. today run on electricity, and as a result, it becoming increasingly difficult to find gas clothes dryers in stores. Most new apartment houses and condos have electric clothes dryers. Why? Well, as I said, electric clothes dryers are cheaper to buy than gas clothes dryers. And they are also easier to install. With an electric clothes dryer, all you have to do is plug it in. With a gas clothes dryer, you have to plug it in, but you also need to run a gas line to the dryer, and plumbing is expensive. Several of my units have stacking washer/dryers, and stacking washer/dryers that run on natural gas can be very hard to find. When I need one, I usually have to special order it. Most appliance stores do not keep them in stock.

It seems to me that if our federal government had a rational energy policy, Congress would create some kind of economic incentive for real estate developers to put gas clothes dryers in new housing or at least gas connections in laundry rooms. Right now, real estate developers and landlords have absolutely no incentive from the government to install gas clothes dryers or to replace existing electric dryers with dryers that run on natural gas.