What About Electricity?

The printers, copiers, and fax machines that use paper also use electricity.  Like paper use, this costs money and creates pollution elsewhere.  Unlike paper use, there is already an organized effort to reduce electricity use in imaging and other office equipment, the U.S. EPA's Energy Star Program.  Energy Star is a voluntary program with manufacturers to label equipment with the Energy Star logo that meets certain criteria for energy efficiency.  For imaging equipment, ENERGY STAR programs exist for Printers, Copiers, Fax Machines, Multi-Function Devices (MFDs), and Scanners. 

The Energy Star criteria require that devices have the ability to go into a low-power ("sleep") mode when not in active use, and for copiers, to be able to shut themselves off after a longer time of non-use.  For a time, the copier program included default duplex for high speed copiers, though this was changed to a recommendation to avoid people being presented with a default duplex copier without fully understanding it. 

In the Actions area, the printer and copier tables list which models meet the Energy Star standards.  The copier tables also list whether they have an auto-off feature, a low-power feature, or both.  Many non-Energy Star copiers have some electricity features, though they may not save quite as much electricity as the Energy Star models.

In the Counting area, we give some general guidance on how much electricity imaging equipment uses, and how much can be saved by properly enabling it. 

Finally, when buying imaging equipment, make sure to look for models that are Energy Star compliant.  When new equipment arrives, make sure that any low-power or auto-off features are properly enabled.
 

What might the Future Hold?