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ImageITHACA, NY - Can "high tech" beat paper towels for drying hands? The Sciencenter is inviting the community to help decide during "The Great Dry-Off" competition to be held Friday, August 29 through Friday, September 5. The kick-off to the week-long event is scheduled for 11am, Friday August 29.

With an eye toward further reducing the Sciencenter's environmental footprint, the museum is holding a public "dry-off" during which museum visitors will be able to test new high-efficiency hand dryers, and then cast their vote for their preferred method of drying their hands in the museum's public restrooms.

Sciencenter executive director Charlie Trautmann said, "We're eager to get the community involved in helping us find ways to get greener in all aspects of the museum's operations and programs. Not only are these state-of-the-art, non-traditional dryers very cool in how they work, they may be able to help us save nearly $2,500 per year in paper towels and trash disposal and composting fees every year. But they have to work for our visitors, many of whom are young children. So we want our visitors to try them, before we buy them."

In the competition the Dyson "Airblade" will go head-to-head with the Mitsubishi "Jet Towel." Both are high-efficiency models that use 80% less energy than traditional warm air hand dryers. Because the Sciencenter already purchases 100% of its electricity from wind generated sources, a move to high efficiency dryers would decrease paper waste and use green power.

The Sciencenter encourages businesses and other organizations interested in switching to green hand drying to join in the fun and make a side-by-side comparison of the top models available today. Regular museum admission applies, and admission sales during "The Great Dry-Off" event will be used to support the purchase of new dryers, as determined by community vote.

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