Grants and Rebates

Switching from paper towels to electric hand dryers doesn't just cut your custodial costs. Many utility companies and state programs offer rebates for the energy savings. Below is how to find a program in your area, plus how the savings get calculated for your application.

Find a Rebate Program in Your Area

Utility rebate programs vary by state and even by provider, so the fastest way to check what's available near you is DSIRE (Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency), a free, government-funded directory of energy efficiency incentives across the country. Search by state or utility at dsireusa.org.

You can also check directly with your local electric utility. Most commercial and industrial efficiency programs, like the Con Edison example below, ask for your calculated energy savings as part of the application, so it helps to have your numbers ready ahead of time.

Example: Con Edison Program (New York)

If you're in Con Edison's service territory, their Energy Efficiency Program for Business supports upgrades like hand dryer replacements under the Custom Measures track. You can find the application here: ConEd Commercial and Industrial Program Application.

Example: ComEd Program (Chicago, Illinois)

If you're in ComEd's service territory, hand dryer installs qualify under their Custom Incentives track, which pays $0.18 per kWh saved based on your calculated energy savings and can cover up to 100% of project cost. You can find the program and application here: ComEd Business Incentives.

How Your Energy Savings Are Calculated

Rebate programs generally want to see two numbers: how much electricity your new dryers use, and how much energy you avoid by no longer manufacturing and disposing of paper towels. The difference between the two is your net annual energy savings. Here's how utilities typically calculate it.

1. Key Variables

• Annual Uses (U): Total restroom visits per year (common benchmark: 4.5 uses per person per day, or total daily enrollment for schools).
• Paper Towels per Use (P): Typically assumed to be 2 towels per hand-dry.
• Dryer Power Rating (W): A Pinnacle hand dryer runs about 1,200 watts; older conventional dryers run about 2,300 watts.
• Dry Cycle Time (T): Pinnacle dryers run 12 to 15 seconds per use; older conventional dryers run about 30 seconds.

Example: A school with 500 students averaging 4.5 restroom visits a day over a 180-day school year adds up to roughly 405,000 hand-dries annually. Using a Pinnacle dryer's 1,200-watt rating and 13.5-second average dry time, that comes out to about 1,822 kWh of direct electricity per year, versus roughly 7,763 kWh per year for an older 2,300-watt, 30-second dryer doing the same job. That's nearly 6,000 kWh saved annually on electricity alone, before even factoring in the paper towel savings below.

2. The Direct Electricity Equation

 

This is the electricity your new dryers actually use, calculated from the variables above.

3. The Paper Towel Embedded Energy Offset

This accounts for the energy footprint of manufacturing, shipping, and disposing of the paper towels you're no longer buying.

4. Final Net Annual kWh Savings

Subtracting the electricity your dryers use from the energy you save by eliminating paper towels gives you the net annual kWh savings figure most rebate applications ask for.

Ready to Apply?

Use our Savings Calculator to run your own numbers, or contact us and we'll help you put together the figures for your rebate application.