How much energy will be saved if you have to wash the clothes twice???
Twice as much, of course! ;-)
Very good point.
Add to the fact that all these energy saving creations are usually infinitely more complex than the devices they replace.
The more complicated they make these devices, the more frustrating it becomes to fix them when they break--indeed, we are becoming more and more a disposable society: cheaper to buy new gadgets then to fix the old one.
This is especially true when it comes to cars, which are as far as I'm concerned, are already way too darn complicated.
Now they're talking about adding features like turning the engine off at stoplights and turning off some of the cylinders when cruising along at a steady high speed.
Egads. What even bigger mechanical monstrosities cars of the near-future will be.