Question

assume you are the chief operating officer of the fast food chain with 5,600 stores in north america. each store operates 360 days a year and has one heated dryer in the ladies and mens restrooms. each dryer operates 150 times per day per restroom. one pound is 453.60 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, 11 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. how many pounds of carbon dioxide are released in the atmosphere from the heated electric hand dryers in the fast-food chain’s stores? round your answer to the nearest whole number.
______ pounds

Explanation:

Step1: Calculate total dryers

Each store has 2 dryers (ladies and men's), so 5600 stores have \(5600\times2 = 11200\) dryers.

Step2: Calculate daily CO₂ per dryer

Each dryer operates 150 times a day, emitting 20g per use. So daily per dryer: \(150\times20 = 3000\)g.

Step3: Calculate annual CO₂ per dryer

360 days a year, so annual per dryer: \(3000\times360 = 1080000\)g.

Step4: Calculate total annual CO₂ (g)

Total dryers: 11200, so total CO₂ (g): \(11200\times1080000 = 12096000000\)g.

Step5: Convert grams to pounds

1 pound = 453.60g, so pounds: \(\frac{12096000000}{453.60}\approx26666667\) (rounded to nearest whole number).

Answer:

26666667