Syed Hussaini Inefficient hand dryers are costing UK businesses up to £234 million annually according to a study by Initial Washroom Hygiene.
An analysis of more than 600 hand dryers photographed on washroom walls in April found the average unit runtime to be 22 seconds with the average power rating reported at 1.94kW. Researchers concluded that upgrading to low-energy dryers would cut the average energy bill for each unit by £134 and save up to 76kg of CO2 each year.
We have calculated that the potential energy saving in carbon alone is huge, equating to over 62,000 flights to Australia.
Jamie Woodhall, UK Technical & Innovation Manager for Initial Washroom Hygiene, says: “Hand dryers have a lifespan of 5-7 years, but they are an item which is typically out of sight and out of mind. As long as they are working then very often they will be left on walls for 10 or 15+ years.
“Not replacing outdated hand dryers may appear to make good business sense but is it? Modern hand dryers have evolved to be more efficient at drying hands quickly, as well as being low energy and low noise. So we’ve crunched some numbers to work out what this could mean for both business pockets and our planet.
“An industry source has confirmed that in the last 30 years, they believe in the UK around 4.5m hand dryers have been sold. They estimate the number of units on walls currently is between 1.55m–1.75m.
“I believe even this upper estimate of 1.75m units is a conservative one. But working with this figure and the average power consumption of the hand dryers recorded in our recent study, there are big savings to be made. We have calculated that the potential energy saving in carbon alone is huge, equating to over 62,000 flights to Australia.”
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