How to Choose the Smart Printer that Saves Energy

Many businesses make an effort to reduce the use of paper and printing. However, we cannot achieve a 100% paperless office, at least not in the near future. This makes it important to choose the best printer or printers that not only use ink sparingly, but also saves energy.

Some appliances including printers have Energy star symbols attached to them. For printers to qualify for this symbol they would need to:

1.      Consume a set level of energy per week (Total Electricity Consumption
Approach – TEC), or;
2.      Must automatically enter low-power modes of a prescribed level (Operating
Mode Approach – OM).

These two criteria are reliant on the type of printer engine, product speed, and product size.

Under the OM Approach, a standard sized inkjet printer with a speed of 25 inches per minute should have:

1.      Go into sleep mode after 30 minutes of idle time.
2.      Consume a maximum of 1W of Standby power.
3.      Consume no more than 3W of power in Sleep mode.

Choosing an appropriate printer technology and capability can help reduce your business’ energy consumption. For example, if you do not require high quality images or printing speed then you may not need a laser printer or colour inkjet printer. A regular inkjet (black and white) printer would produce near-laser quality printer outs and would be an energy efficient alternative to laser printers. However, if your office requires printing large volume of paper then a faster printer (like laser) will probably be your best bet. They consume less energy per page.

Another important feature is energy consumption during standby mode. Consider how your office prints documents. Does the printer sit on idle for short or long periods? If your answer the latter, it is advisable to choose a model that reduces its energy consumption while in stand-by mode.

Remember to ask your vendor specifically for the printer’s energy consumption during printing, idling and energy-saver details before making a decision. This will help make your business energy smart. This article was brought to you by IMS Inc., one of Canada’s leading suppliers of the highest quality
manufactured laser printer, inkjet and ribbon cartridges. Visit http://www.imsinkspot.com.

How to Extend the Life of Your Printer Ink Cartridge

Extending the life of your printer ink cartridge is quite easy. Shaking the cartridge isn’t the only way to get more ink out of the cartridge, which, by the way, can cause leakage. By following a few simple steps, you can help prolong the life of the printer ink cartridge and allow you to be less wasteful, and help the environment in the long run.

   1. Preview your documents. Previewing a document before printing is the best way to avoid printing documents with errors. Typographical errors or misaligned images on the page can resort to printing loads of paper to get the correct information printed out. Using a spellchecker, grammar checker, and the Preview option in your computer can help save ink and paper.

   2. Print Draft-quality prints. If it is necessary to print out a document to double-check image alignment or general errors, use draft-quality printing. This can be set in your printer software. This way the amount of ink used will be minimal.

  

3. Print regularly. Use your printer regularly. Print draft-quality prints if necessary as long as it is being used. The ink cartridge can dry up when the printer is left unused for a long period of time. Dried printer ink can clog your printer head which can produce low quality printouts or worse, damage your printer head.

4. Unplug your printer when not in use. Power the printer down properly and unplug it from the wall. Heat from the electricity may cause the ink to clog the printer head. Clogged print heads can print low quality printouts and can overall damage the printer.

Following these few easy steps will lengthen the life of your ink cartridge. This article was brought to you by IMSinkspot.com.