4 Tips to Decrease the Power Consumption of Inkjet and Laser Printers
4 Tips to Decrease the Power Consumption of Inkjet and Laser Printers
We should all do our part in conserving electricity and practicing energy efficiency in our everyday lives. We can do this through simple things that won't disrupt our lives, such as turning off appliances when no one is using them, installing compact fluorescent light bulbs in your home and office and choosing appliances and equipment that have good energy efficiency ratings.
You can also practice energy efficiency by aiming to decrease the power consumption of your inkjet printers or laser printers. This is one small step that you can easily take to lower your electricity bills, save energy and help Mother Earth. Let's take a deeper look at the energy consumption of these printers and several tips on how to decrease their electricity usage.
The Power Consumption of Laser and Inkjet Printers
The advent of the computer age has caused us to increase our energy consumption (and our carbon footprint) exponentially through the years. While monitors and CPUs are still at the top of the energy charts when it comes to consumption, inkjet and laser printers also contribute to operating and energy costs.
Laser printers can consume as much as 100 watts (or more) when in use, while inkjet printers use much less energy, at about 12 watts when printing. This fact has sparked some debate over which printer is more eco-friendly. Since the laser printer can give your more pages per printer ink cartridge, it sounds like the greener option over an inkjet, which can only give you a few hundred pages.
But laser printers consume much more energy than inkjet printers, even when idle. Tests done by the website Techlogg.com report that a Lexmark E230 laser printer ate up about 5.9 watts when idle, but this number quickly rose to 700 watts per printed page. The test revealed that a Canon S800 inkjet printer, on the other hand, only consumed between 13 to 19 watts when printing. When idle, inkjet printers used only 5 watts of power. But just because they use up less energy when idle doesn't mean that it's okay to leave your printers on standby mode all the time. Imagine how much this seemingly insignificant amount of power would add up to if you leave your printers on idle most of the day, 7 days a week for a whole year.
How to Conserve Energy with Your Printers
You can still, however, minimize your use of power and practice energy efficiency while using your laser or inkjet printers by following these simple tips.
1. Choose a printer with an Energy Star stamp. Energy Star is a program created by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Energy. They give approval or special seals for appliances and equipment that have been proven to be energy efficient. Inkjet and laser printers with this seal either consume a low energy level per week or automatically go into sleep or low power mode during idle mode, among other criteria.
2. Use the power saving mode of your printers. According to Energy Star, you should set your printer's low power mode depending on the print speeds of your inkjet or laser printer. Those with speeds of 0 to 10 ipm, should be set to turn off automatically after 30 minutes, while this time should be set to 60 minutes for printers with 11 to 20ipm. Laser and inkjet printers with speeds of 55ipm and above should be set to turn off after 90 minutes.
3. Make sure to turn off your printer when no one is using it. It's advisable to appoint someone in your office to turn off your printer at the end of the day. At home, make sure that you switch off your printer after using it.
4. Use the Duplex feature of your printer. This is one easy way to practice energy efficiency in the office or at home. Duplex copying uses up less energy than single-sided copying; so it's strongly suggested that you set your printer to duplex mode, so that you save on energy and paper as well.
Reduce waste and energy consumption by making sure that all your appliances and equipment at the home and in your office have an Energy Star seal. You can also practice energy efficiency by following the four tips above.
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