Hand Dryer Makes The Grade At Longmeadow High School

Contributed by Excel Dryer

When Massachusetts-based Longmeadow High School Principal, Lawrence Berte, reached retirement eligibility, he opted to stay on board with the school to see the new building construction through to completion.

“We sat with the architect for a year and a half to design the building, and the build itself took a year and a half,” Berte said. “The students wanted to have this new building be modern and up-to-date, and we wanted a facility that implemented environmental best practices.”

One of those best practices was the installation of high-speed, energy-efficient XLERATOR hand dryers from Excel Dryer.

The XLERATOR has a dry time of 8 seconds* — tested to guidelines from the Global Hand Dryer PCR published by UL Environment — and it uses 80 percent less energy than conventional hand dryers. It represents a 95-percent cost savings when compared to paper towels, eliminating their labor, maintenance and waste. 

A peer reviewed (ISO 14040 standards) Life Cycle Assessment of XLERATOR confirmed it reduces the carbon footprint of hand drying by 50 to 75 percent, compared to both traditional hand dryers and 100-percent recycled paper towels. It is the first hand dryer to be BuildingGreen approved and helps facilities qualify for several LEED v4 credits and Green Globes to satisfy corporate and government sustainability goals.

Subtracting Costs

With 1,000 students, 100 teaching faculty and a support staff of about 25, the XLERATOR has allowed the school to realize a substantial reduction in paper towel costs and eliminated a majority of restroom maintenance needs.

 “The XLERATOR was an easy option for us. Our facility managers are thankful they’re not cleaning up a paper towel mess every night,” Berte said.

Paper towels are still used in other buildings in the school district, but Berte points out that they don’t last long.

“When you pull the papers out, sometimes 10 come out instead of one; they fall on the floor or someone might think it’s a pretty good joke to clog up the sink or throw them in the toilet,” he said. “A high school is a high school. We have those things eliminated going the dryer route.”

Longmeadow High School opted to install XLERATORs not only in the restrooms, but also in other areas that waste a lot of paper, including locker rooms and science rooms.

“Anytime we could reduce paper with an XLERATOR, we did so,” Berte said.

The whole building process was used as an educational tool to teach the students about the importance of sustainability.

*Dry time and energy use testing performed by SGS International on standard XLERATOR Hand Dryer with 0.8” nozzle to 0.25g or less of residual moisture, pursuant to the UL Environment Global Product Category Rules (PCR) for Hand Dryers.