The Evolution of Green Printing

Printing is a huge environmental hazard resulting in exorbitant paper usage to the toxic production and usage of toner.  Any way you slice it, printing is a total environmental waste.  According to a survey of environmental pet peeves among over 1,569 adult U.S. and Canadian office workers by Harris Interactive, here are the top ten:

1. Mindless printing resulting in increased waste (40%)
2. Leaving lights on (37%)
3. Lack of recycling bins (33%)
4. Excessive air conditioning in summer and heat in winter (29%)
5. Excessive use of paper products, like cups, plates, etc. (27%)
6. Coworkers not recycling (27%)
7. Cowrorkers not printing double-sided when they can (24%)
8. Too many cover sheets when faxing or printing (24%)
9. Having to store paper copies of existing, electronic files (24%)
10. Leaving computer on and not powering down when going home (23%)

As far as printing goes, I would try to eliminate the whole process.  But that’s not going to happen, right?  If we had some other medium to convey thoughts and ideas, I would be all for it, but the reality is we still must print, and in some cases, we still must fax.  So let’s try to do it better.

Century Gothic Font

I chose to write this article with Century Gothic because it is the most effective font for saving toner ink, thus it is environmentally friendly.  Unfortunately, when I copy/paste from my Word document, WordPress is going to change the font for me.  According to theUniversity of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Century Gothic uses much less ink, saving money on printer ink.  They reportedly switched their default e-mail and printing font from Arial to Century Gothic because it uses about 30% less ink.  Century Gothic font is the low lying fruit for green printing because it is virtually free.  Change your settings.

 Ecofont Software

Ecofont Software prints green fonts with holes to save in toner and reduce printing costs.  Ecofont Software adds a print button to your toolbar.  With just one click of the mouse you can save up to 50% toner when printing text. Ecofont Software is compatible with all printers, copier and multifunctionals from Brother, Canon, Dell, Develop, Epson, HP, Konica-Minolta, Kyocera, Lexmark, Muratec, Océ, OKI Data, Ricoh, Samsung, Sharp, Tally Genicom, Toshiba, Xerox, etc.  Keep in mind that there is an economic driver in the print management business, especially the pay per page strategy or pay per cartridge strategy.  Some vendors may tell you that Ecofont software is not compatible with their equipment just to maintain profit levels with toner cartridges.

I think the Ecofont Software is very innovative, but why should I pay for it?  Century Gothic is free.  The last time I checked, free is still a good price.

GreenPrint Software

GreenPrint Enterprise provides a best-in-class software solutions to eliminate unnecessary cost and waste associated with enterprise and individual printing activities.  GreenPrint Enterprise product increases profitability and sustainability by providing employees with an innovative interface that allows them to eliminate pages, images and selected content from print jobs before they are sent to the printer.  This simple yet powerful exercise reduces organizational print volume by 17% to 25% and saves an average of $80 to $120 per employee per year, which is validated by GreenPrint’s robust data collection and reporting mechanism.

GreenPrint’s ability to allow me to delete unnecessary blank pages and images does save on paper, but I need more savings and control.

PretonSaver Software

PretonSaver Enterprise can save as much as 70% on your existing printing costs without compromising on quality.  In these troubled times, businesses are constantly looking for ways to cut costs. Unfortunately, these cuts are usually painful, as they require some kind of concession.  But, what if you could save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year without compromising anything?

Watch the Video!

Leave it to the Israeli’s to come up with such an awesome software product, with print management capabilities.  To write an algorithm that manipulates and eliminates pixels is pure genius in my book.  To save up to 70% on toner usage is even more fantastic.  Imagine being able to enforce print protocols that eliminate Internet printing?  I use to see sports sections in the men’s bathroom, which were printed from the Internet. Imagine using default settings for duplex printing, or restricting certain groups or individuals from color printing.  Imagine cutting your toner budget in half.  Between PC Power Management and PretonSaver Software, I think every company in the world needs to invest in these cost cutting measures that definitely contribute to the triple bottom line.

So, to all you large enterprise organizations printing copies multiple times without collaborating in an electronic portal, start Green Printing!