Alex's Cool Product of the Week: Clean Dry Hand Dryer

Every time I turn around, it seems, I'm finding out about some new, really cool green building product. It's time to start sharing this information. Starting this week, I'll be writing a weekly "product of the week" blog. I'll be skipping around from category to category. Not every product will be brand new, but I'm guessing that most will be unfamiliar to most readers. I welcome suggestions of products I should cover. Contact me by email (alex@buildinggreen.com) or use the comment field at the end of the blog to submit suggestions.

Clean Dry Electric Hand Dryer from TOTO

By making electric hand drying more convenient, more users would find it acceptable, and hand dryers could be installed in place of paper towel dispensers. Life-cycle assessment (LCA) calculations we did back in 2002 (see inset figure in linked article above) found that drying hands with paper towels made from recycled paper (two per use) resulted in life-cycle energy consumption of about 460 kJ/use. By instead using a standard electric hand dryer, energy consumption per use is just 220 kJ, and the XLerator used just 76 kJ/use--one-sixth that of recycled-content paper towels!

The problem with the XLerator is that it's really noisy. The first model introduced generated an alarming 90 dB when you put your hand right up close to the outlet. A subsequent model dropped the noise to 80–81 dB--nearly a ten-fold noise reduction (the decibel scale is logarithmic). But 80 dB is still pretty loud.

This week's green product is TOTO's Clean Dry hand dryer. Available for several years in Japan and introduced into North America in 2008, the Clean Dry drops the noise down to just 58–62 dB, and TOTO claims it will dry hands in 12 second. Because the air isn't heated, the electricity consumption is just 510 watts, compared with 1,500 watts for the XLerator and 2,200 watts for a standard (old-style) electric hand dryer. I tried one last November at the Greenbuild conference in Phoenix, and it was certainly fast (though I didn't time it), and it seemed quieter than the XLerator and most other high-speed dryers I've tried. The air stream was cool, but the duration short enough that that didn't seem to be a problem.

Rather than blowing air over hands in the open (which some sanitation experts suggest might disperse germs), TOTO's Clean Dry has an opening where users insert their hands. An inset model is mounted in the wall, so the outer surface of it is flush with the inside of the wall; this model generates just 58 dB. A surface-mount model is louder at 62 dB (because the wall cavity doesn't absorb as much of the sound), but it still works the same way.

Operation is fully automatic, with an infrared sensor turning the dryer on. With both models, the droplets of water blown off a user's hands are captured in a hygienic drainage tray where germs are killed using UV light.

The suggested retail price for the wall-mount version in a gray plastic finish (model HDR100) is $578. The price of the concealed (inset) version in a stainless steel satin finish (model HDR110) is $1,200. Discounting is typical with multi-unit purchases; contact a local dealer.

For more information:

TOTO USA
Morrow, Georgia
888-295-8134
770-282-8686
www.totousa.com
To find a dealer

I invite you to share your comments on this blog. What's your experience been with the new high-speed electric hand dryers? Has anyone tried this product?

Alex Wilson is the founder of BuildingGreen and executive editor of Environmental Building News and the GreenSpec product directory. You can also follow his musings on Twitter.