distilled white vinegar, in moderation, can have the same effect, with less severe downsides. my clothes actually dry better with it, since it neutralizes and removes the alkaline detergents that never fully rinse out in a normal water wash. it requires some finesse to know what fabrics to use it on, but I've had great results with it
The fact that anyone is using anything higher than low for their clothes is shocking. If your clothes aren’t drying, it means you need to split the load into 2 separate ones, people!
People are wildly impatient about the dumbest things. I've been trying to push heat pump dryers because they use like a fourth of the electricity of a standard electric dryer but people don't want to because it takes slightly longer to dry heavy things like towels. But they have the added benefit of using very little heat because they're abusing the fact that they are condensers and are making the air very very dry so they don't need as much heat so they are far gentler on clothing
But they just hard refuse Despite the fact i know for an absolute fact all these people wait fucking hours after dryer is done to collect it or move it around. So it's a worthless argument
I’ve seen these dummies absolutely fill a dryer, and then have to pay to run it a second time because everything’s still damp. So they’re spending the same amount, but wasting more time (assuming you have access to two or more machines, which usually you do if you’re paying for it).
I used to know a guy that was really stinky. I was hanging out with him once while he was doing his laundry and watched him cram clothes in to the washing machine with all his might, then leverage himself against the opposite wall with is legs to get the door to close. I told him this is the wrong way, the clothes will not get clean. "But water runs through the clothes! I'm not going to waste space in the washer!" When I pointed out that the clothes in the center of the impacted fabric wad was not even wet at the end of the wash he explained that this was because the spin cycle was so efficient.
It wasn't even at the laundromat!! He was renting a room over a garage and had laundry privileges. He just didn't want to do laundry very often. I started actually doing his laundry for him for a while, just to show him what clean clothes could be like. He got fussy about me not "folding the way he liked" so I told him he was on his own.
Also you can just keep it going. An hour usually does the trick for me, but occasionally I'll extend it for another 30 mins. I wouldn't be surprised if that still uses less energy than just 30 mins high.
Plus, I wouldn't be surprised if the times I do extend it aren't necessary. Like it's not even at the damp point, it's just at the point where it's ambiguous if they still have a bunch of moisture and have been fine when I decide to just take them out.
Which is another good sign for drying on low: it doesn't matter if there isn't any more moisture to evaporate, they are just being warmed instead of cooked.