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.

Why You Should Avoid an Inkjet Printer from Being Idle for Too Long

Keeping an inkjet printer idle for months on end is not the best way to maintain the printer or to save on ink. To keep the printer and ink cartridges properly functioning, it needs regular cleaning and maintenance.

How to maintain your inkjet printer:

Newer printers have self cleaning system that is built into the inkjet printer. However, older style printers do not. Each manufacturer has their own specific cleaning instructions that are printed in the manual. It gives tips on how to clean the printer head, rollers and ink cartridges inside the printer.  If you no longer have the original manual, manufacturers will normally have it in their website.

The simplest thing to do is use your printer regularly. This will keep the printer and its ink cartridge running smoothly. Leaving the printer unused for long periods of time, may cause internal problems. Print at least once every week to ensure that the printer and ink cartridge are working properly. Even if it’s a test page, at least it is being used.

Printer heads clogging up is one of the biggest problems with ink jet printers. To ensure proper printer function, always test your printer by printing a test page. This must be done on a regular basis in order to check if the printer or ink cartridges are working fine. To clean the ink cartridge, remove it from the printer and clean them off using a Q-tip dipped in a bit of water. Wipe the inside of your inkjet printer at least once a week using a non lint cloth. This helps the printer’s print quality.

Following these few tips will help maintain your ink cartridge and printer.

Why use a refillable ink cartridge?

Refilling ink cartridges have been a popular way to reduce, reuse, and recycle for many people. Throwing away ink cartridges is like throwing batteries away. We all know that this is not good for the environment.

One big reason why people prefer refillable cartridges is that it is more cost effective than buying new ones. Refilling a cartridge could save you up to 60% less than a brand name ink cartridge. Most brand name companies would argue that refilled cartridges do not have the same quality. They claim that photos printed using refilled cartridge can fade quicker than their brand name counter parts. However, a study conducted by Quality Logic proved that the quality of refilled cartridges print outs are comparable to those of new cartridges.

Another reason to choose refillable ink cartridges is that brand names like HP, Canon, and Brother come out with newer printer models almost every year. Since older models are more likely discontinued, the same goes for its ink cartridge. There may be times that you will not find the same model ink cartridge for your old printer.

Not only are refillable ink cartridges more cost-effective, they are also safer for our environment. With the quality of ink improving in the recent years, the use of refillable ink cartridges are in demand