Letters to the Editor
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Oops, forgot the URL
This is where it says the US had 819 billion watts of generating capacity in 2000.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/northamerica/engsupp.htm
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I carry a handkerchief
I carry a handkerchief in my back pocket. It does a fine job of drying my hands, and is also useful for cleaning my glasses, cleaning up spills, and - in a survival situation - makes a great tourniquet.
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Only two choices
Actually, I'd say there are only two choices: paper towel or pants, as wiping hands on pants inevitably follows use of the air dryer. The air dryer, thus, is a total waste: it uses energy and doesn't accomplish anything.
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Here's an idea
Let's lose the germ phobia and go back to the old cloth-and-roller system. Anybody remember that? A 6 foot or so towel, joined at both ends that ran through a roller at the top that you dried your hands on? It was generally a little damp, and you did have to touch the same thing everyone else did, but your hands had just been washed and were therefore clean, right?
I'd rather have that than the choice of an inadequate hand dryer or wasting paper towels.
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my calculations
it costs around 11,000 kwh of energy to produce a ton or 200,000 paper towels, so that's around 20 wh per towel, recycled paper is is 60% of that or 12 wh per towel, the driers 2300 watts for 30 seconds, is 20 wh, but you know what I only hit the drier one time, not because my hands are dry (they never are) but who can spend an entire minute drying their hands, forget it, towels on the other hand I use 2 most of the time, sometimes 1, so the towels will be at pretty close to 20 watt-hours, and the electric drier will be pretty close to 20 watt-hours. Almost exactly equal . . . except . . .
Towels lose when you add up the energy costs for the labor for hiring some dork to empty the towel bin, for his car to drive to work, all the other energy costs for him.
A pretty good rule of thumb is if it is cheaper, then it's using less energy and producing less greenhouse gases.
Hot air driers are cheaper that's why businesses want to use them. They are definitely greener, once you add on the additional labor costs for taking care of paper towel garbage.
But they suck. You can't use a hot air drier to wipe up a mess on your conference table, but you can with paper towels, you can't run into the bathroom and grab a drier off the wall, and then use it to wipe the mustard off your shirt, it's just plain worse than some paper towels.
It's clear to me that it's silly to use hot air driers because they are "greener" when you have both a hot air drier and some paper towels for an option, use the paper towels, they work so much better, and since they are already paying for a janitor to take up the garbage they are just as green as the air drier.
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Paper or air
I dry my hands on my pants, I wear jeans most of the times. Shake your hands dry then wipe on your pants legs. There, no dead trees and no atomic power plants.
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It's not just energy
Not one time does the word chlorine appear in this article.
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four things
1. The writer was in a very unusual bathroom. I've NEVER seen paper towels available in a place that had a hand dryer. If there was such a place, I doubt if anyone would use the dryer.
2. Nobody's mentioned the fact that, if your hands are actually dirty, hand dryers don't do the job. Without abrasive soap, you simply need paper towels. So you end up going into the stalls and resorting to toilet paper.
3. This article has certainly brought out its share of crank commenters. Bandanas? Personal hand towels? Carrying wet, dirty cloth in your pockets all day? Don't wash your hands at all? I've never seen any of that. (Well, I've seen the last one.)
4. The writer assumes that hand dryers are motivated by environmental concerns, and is surprised to find paper towels at an environmental office. Actually they are motivated by the desire to put custodians out of work.
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Another option
I have perennially bad hair. Conditioner doesn't get the frizzies out. Every time I go to the restroom, I look at my frizzy hair while I wash my hands. On a whim, I shook the water off my hands and ran them on the frizz zones of my hair. It works! It smooths out my hair for about an hour or two.
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Another tidbit from Japan
I was happy to see all of the comments regarding the handkerchief in Japan.
I'm a long term resident of Japan, and it took me a while to get into the habit of carrying a hanky. I sometimes still forget.
I prefer to carry a "tenugui." The tenugui is a Japanese towel which, folded properly, can be used as a hanky, but is much much more.
For example, it can be opened up further for use as a small towel at the hotsprings, for drying dishes, as a bandana for headcover during work in the field, wall decoration, wrapping for gifts, etc. They are also machine washable.
The tenugui's versatility and reusability define its utility, but the marvelous patterns and designs define its charm!
Designs include motivational slogans (so students can wear them as headbands during long study sessions or sporting events), nature-based patterns (including the "asa no ha," or "hemp leaf"), and poems in calligraphy. I just saw one recently that depicted all of the traditional uses of the tenugui (it seems where and how they were tied used to convey social status, among other things)!
In summary, an attractive versatile piece of cloth that has its own story is not only fun to carry, but also can help decrease usage of our limited natural resources.
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Dyson Airblade
Uses about 1/7th the power of a standard air dryer and works in 10 seconds or less.
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sheesh
if you are *that* concerned about the environment, then just shake your hands and let evaporation do the rest. People are suggesting we do a lot of other contortions of our daily routine for the environment--this seems a lot less intrusive, actually.
The handkerchief is not a bad idea, but of course, nitpickers among us would realize you'd have to wash the handkerchief eventually, using water. Wiping on your clothes is also pretty environment friendly, but then you'd have wet clothes.