apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Neither options are very green. I haven't used either in years and haven't come across with any issues...nothing works better than the combination of wiping your hands on your clothing and then letting what moisture remains air dry.

not to add another variable to the equation, but for what it's worth, paper towels are preferable from a public health standpoint because the friction of paper on skin is much better at removing bacteria. also, bacteria can grow in the vents of electric heaters.

i imagine it matters quite a bit whether the paper is downcycled/recycled or virgin.

There are lots of "green" public bathrooms in our area and they all have hand dryers. A few of them even make claims to being eco friendly and one I came across had some funny internal mechanism that claimed to use almost no energy at all -- it was a really high powered fast blast of cold air and worked pretty good.

I think the question/answer might be rephrased to wonder if an old hot air drier that runs and runs better or worse than paper, but a modern, efficient, high pressure cold air drier might be better than both?

I use the air driers or my pants (just because I'm lazy). But what I don't understand is why this country hasn't gotten onto the dyson style hand driers. When over in Britain recently EVERY bathroom had one that had a strong blower that worked fantastically.

I think what makes the old driers and hair driers non eco-friendly is the heat aspect. The higher wattage driers produce a higher temperature of heat.

maffei - agreed!!! they're awesome!

I can't bring myself to use the old style hand dryers - I mean, they're sucking in bathroomy air into the vents and blasting that back on to your hands! Bleah! I wonder if the "xcelerator" high-speed ones I see sometimes are any better?

In Japan, alot of bathrooms have the hand dryers that blow out two lines of high pressured air. You basically stick your hands between the lines and as you pull your hands up, the air blows the water off your hands. That way, the air temperature doesn't have to be hot to do a good job of drying.

In Germany, bathrooms have a paper towel like dispensing machine that actually contain a long, thin, cloth towel. You pull out a section of towel, dry your hands, and the machine automatically rotates the towel so a clean section is available for the next person.

I use neither. Don't like hand driers/vents because of the germ aspect. They're notorious for getting your hands dirtier, not cleaner. I usually just let my hands air dry.

I use the paper towels (sorry) simply because I need one to be between me and the bathroom door handle as I walk out.

I worked on an environmental committee at my previous job and we were campaigning to get hand dryers instead of paper towels in the bathroom. After lots of research, they seemed like the more eco-friendly option (although I'm a big proponent of drying on my pants). The reason we didn't get the dryers? The very low-energy usage ones were not cheap and they spread germs more than paper towels (long explanation here).

FreddyNYC mentioned one aspect of Japan bathroom life (the air dryers), but those are mostly found in big cities. If you're in the countryside, you won't find either towels OR air dryers in the bathrooms. Instead, everyone carries around their own handkerchief / slightly-smaller-than-a-washcloth towel that they use throughout the day for drying their hands. (Of course, they use a next one the next day and wash them all with their regular laundry.) It's not nearly as germy and is eco-friendly.

I'd say this is a fairly easy thing that could be (should be!) done in the US, too.

I feel the need to point out that the paper towel dispenser in the picture is one of those "wave at the robot" electric dispensers... which makes it even less green!

if you're concerned about germs, use soap. You're body can handle the rest, and in fact is often better off for it.
We live in fear of "germs" but really, basic hygiene is all you need to stay healthy.

This is completely off-topic but an ex of mine once tried to impress me by pointing out he found the perfect lint-free paper towels for the sole purpose of having lint-free fingers to put in contact lenses (doesn't that make your heart go pitter-pat) I asked him why not wait a few seconds for you hands to air dry and there is no lint there either, I can't remember his response

Neither. Air dry is best.

FreddyNYC mentioned the continuous cloth towel mechanism. I'm probably confessing my age but these were common in the U.S. when I was a little girl. They went out of fashion because you need a person to come in and change the towel frequently and launder the used ones.

Probably the best idea is carrying your own small towels with you.