Amongst so many things I had to adjust to after moving away to college, one of the most prominent – and most annoying – was having the hand dryer as my only means of drying off. It’s not that I’ve never used a hand dryer before, but going to my dorm bathroom each morning and having to spend an extra 30 seconds along with the obnoxious sound that will surely wake you out of your drowsiness was really the worst. So is there a big enough cost benefit to depriving me the luxury of paper towels?
Cost Efficiency
In short, yes. The initial cost of installing a hand dryer ($300) is much greater than a paper towel dispenser ($30), but the long-term cost of a hand dryer is much less. According to Master Building Specialties, a case of 2,400 paper towels was priced at about $25 and lasted for about 960 hand dryings, which means each drying hand costs 3 cents. They estimate that it runs about .13 cents per hand under a hand dryer. This doesn’t seem like much of a difference, but in places like the air port or movie theaters where they have an influx of people rolling through and using 2.5 towels per person, it makes a big difference – enough to offset a whiny college student’s complaints. Point: Hand Dryers.
Time Efficiency
When a facility is making the executive decision on bathroom hand drying, I doubt they put much weight on the time it takes the patron to dry off, but it makes a difference to me. Standard air dryers run for 30 seconds each time you press the button. A dryer with adequate power will do the job in one go, but there are those unfortunate times where you have to wait for a second round. Drying off with a paper towel takes about 5 seconds and you can do it while walking and there’s never a line. Point: Paper Towels.
Environmental Efficiency
Ah, yes, with our carbon feet disintegrating the Earth, configuring the greener option is significant. Both carry an environmental cost, with one exerting a lot of electricity and the other depleting our tree life, but which is more detrimental? According to Climate Conservatory, there’s about 0.123 pounds of greenhouse-gas emission per two paper towels used and between 0.02 and 0.088 pounds for a drying session. So with those statistics, air dryers are the greener choice. There are variables, however, since the Climate Conservatory assumed each patron uses 2 towels and didn’t configure towels that contain recycled material. If each person only used a single sheet, it’s noted that there wouldn’t be much of a difference between the two, if anything at all. But for now – Point: Hand Dryer.
Sources:
Featured Image: http://www.greenandsave.com/greenoffice/other_rooms/hand_air_dryers_vs_paper_towels
http://www.masterbuilding.net/kb_results.asp?ID=19
http://www.ehow.com/facts_4796434_paper-towels-vs-hand-dryers.html