Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Commonhouse bathroom towel query

[Ann Zabaldo (zabaldo]

Hi all!

Just jumping in here because I heard a fascinating piece on hand washing 
frequency on NPR when there were towels available for use or only air dryers.  
Turns out far fewer people will wash their hands if their only choice is an air 
dryer.  It's a big percentage, too.  Wish I could remember the exact number -- 
something like 30% fewer people will wash their hands if only an air dryer is 
available.  Something like that ...

If the worry is energy conservation, the highest energy use and resource use is 
not residential -- it's industrial and commercial.  Not saying we shouldn't all 
conserve and be pro active.   But in the grand scheme of things ... if we want 
to reduce energy and resource consumption by any measure we need to convert 
industrial and commercial uses esp. agriculture, to clean energy.  

Here's a study which showed that air drying increased bacteria on the hand 
while wiping w/ a paper towel decreased bacteria somewhat.   Of course ... not 
all bacteria are "bad..."

http://foodsci.rutgers.edu/schaffner/pdf%20files/montville%20ijfm%202002.pdf

Best --

Ann Zabaldo
Takoma Village Cohousing
Washington, DC
Principal, Cohousing Collaborative, LLC
Falls Church VA
703 663 3911

On Dec 12, 2010, at 6:57 PM, Naomi Anderegg wrote:

> 
> Sharon, 
> 
> I've heard/read that the airdryers are more sustainable. Apparently making 
> paper 
> towels, shipping them to wherever they are used and then disposing of them 
> ends 
> up using more energy than the air dryers over the long term .... They may 
> also 
> be cheaper long-term, since you no longer have to buy paper towels. 
> 
> 
> Here a couple of articles where they actually do some math in order to 
> compare 
> the two:
> http://www.slate.com/id/2193740/ . 
> 
> http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/05/lca_handdryer_papertowels.php
> 
> So, I'd think that an airdryer would be worth considering.
> 
> Naomi
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ________________________________
> From: Sharon Villines <sharon [at] sharonvillines.com>
> To: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
> Sent: Sun, December 12, 2010 12:02:15 PM
> Subject: Re: [C-L]_ Commonhouse bathroom towel query
> 
> 
> 
> On 12 Dec 2010, at 12:29 PM, Ruth Hirsch wrote:
> 
>> Please let us know what you use in your CH bathrooms!   HealthCare  
>> professionals here have nixed the idea of cloth towels.
>> Is there something to dispense rolls of towels one at a time?
> 
> We use the dispensers that dispense one towel at a time. 
> 
> I am gloriously happy to hear that your healthcare professionals nix cloth 
> towels in public restrooms and hope they nix them in kitchens as well.
> 
> I really dislike air driers — I use toilet paper in public bathrooms instead, 
> and I wonder how they can be any more sustainable.
> 
> Sharon
> ----
> Sharon Villines
> Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
> http://www.takomavillage.org
> 
> 
> 
> 
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