Businesses around the world are facing increasing energy costs and a need to move towards a more environmentally friendly office to reduce carbon emissions.  Traditional hand dryers can be expensive to run and maintain and waste a great deal of energy which contributes to unnecessary carbon emissions.

Reducing Energy Usage

A traditional evaporative hand dryer uses a combination of a fan and a heating element to dry the user’s hands.  With a drying time of around 35 seconds from start to finish, the amount of energy used over the course of a year in a typical office can quickly build up.

At current energy prices, it can cost as much as £160 per year for every 500 daily uses of a typical 1000W hand dryer.  In large office buildings, this can be a significant part of the overall cost.

A more modern jet hand dryer such as the Mitsubishi Electric Wave u02 is much more energy efficient.  In standard mode, the u02 uses as little as 560 Watts and has a drying time of under 12 seconds which means that it uses considerably less energy than older designs.  Each year, for every 500 daily uses, the Wave u02 could save a business more than £100.

If hand dryers are compared to disposable paper towels, the savings are even more impressive.  The annual bill for an equivalent number of paper towels would be more than £1,400!