Now what if you have a gas dryer? How do they compare with costs? Our gas is relatively cheap compared to our electric.

That's wild. Our trash bins are stored outside in the sun year round and definitely don't make it that long. In the 25 years we've live in our house, they've been replaced twice and had to have the lids replaced roughly 7 or 8 times. The lids always become brittle much quicker than the rest. I assume because it's sitting flat and taking sunlight from sun up to sun down. They're nice bins, but the California heat and sun can be intense. Temperature range for us is 30 degrees to 115 degrees Fahrenheit. I will say the older ones we had were much more sturdy and lasted longer. They were round with really thick plastic and sort of domed lid. So nothing ever say on top and they never broke. The newer ones are identical to this and the lids are just a bit too thin.