Assume you are the chief operating officer of the fast food chain with 5,500 stores in North America. Each store operates 360 days a year and has one heated dryer in the ladies and men’s restrooms. Each dryer operates 200 times per day per restroom. One pound is 453.6 grams. To dry your hands in a retail store restroom requires zero carbon dioxide emissions if you let your hands drip dry. If you use one standard size paper towel, 10 grams of CO2 were generated to manufacturer the towel. If you use a standard heated electric dryer 20 grams of CO2 are used to generate this energy and operate the dryer.

a. How many pounds of carbon dioxide are released in the atmosphere from the heated electric hand dryers in the fast-food chain’s stores?

b. Given your answer in (a), how would you have customers dry their hands in the chain’s fast food stores? What other criteria might be important?