Creating a greener office

With the increasing use of office automation (OA) equipment - printers, scanner, photocopiers, fax machines and multifunctional products (MFPs) - these devices use a greater percentage of energy than they did a decade ago. As a result, the environmental impact of this equipment is growing.

The fact is that IT can never really be “green” because of the amount of energy that an IT infrastructure consumes; however, there are ways to ensure that your organisation does its bit for the planet through buying products that reduce the environmental footprint of the business and improve its efficiency at the same time. And the good news is that green initiatives not only benefit the environment, but they can also significantly reduce organisational operating costs.

At a practical level, organisations can begin to make their working environments greener by limiting the amount of paper they use. This can be achieved through electronic document management - scanning and archiving information and distributing it electronically, and printing it only when necessary.

It's also advisable to limit the amount of OA equipment used. A desktop laser printer's energy consumption is almost the same as that of a large multifunctional, a device that is able to handle the workload of multiple desktop printers as well as performing a range of other functions.

Here are some of the green industry initiatives and OA product features to look out for.

* Make sure your OA equipment has an Energy Star label. Energy Star is a US-based voluntary labelling program designed to protect the environment through the identification and promotion of energy-efficient products and practices.

* To promote environmental protection and consumer awareness, Germany's "Blue Angel Mark" is awarded to products and services which are beneficial for the environment and which also fulfil high standards of occupational health and safety and fitness for use. Qualification is based on economical use of raw materials, production, usage, service life and disposal and also on the amount of pollution/emission of dust and Ozone, and noise emission level.

* The European Union's ROHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) directive restricts the use of certain substances, including lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyl (PBB), and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE), from being used during the production of electrical and electronic equipment. Your OA equipment, as well as IT and telecommunications equipment, should comply with ROHS regulations.

OA manufacturers are constantly working to reduce the environmental footprint of their products, while also improving their efficiency. Here are some of the earth-friendly product innovations that can help to create a greener working environment:

* A polymerised toner achieves an approximately 40% reduction in CO2 emissions during production, as compared with toners produced by conventional pulverisation methods. It is composed of miniature toner particles that are chemically induced to form a spherical shape around a particle of wax. The wax eliminates the need for traditional fuser oil in a print engine and allows the image to be fused onto the substrate at a lower temperature; this reduces warm-up and imaging time, so it's more energy efficient too.

* Some MFPs feature a toner recycling system that collects, recycles, and re-uses toner that is not transferred to the paper during the printing process. This results in saving 20% of the toner from going to waste.

* Induction heating fixing technology reduces power consumption during the fixing process and results in shorter warm-up time for printing. The result is that power consumption during the ready mode can be substantially reduced.

* Optimal power control optimises power for each operating mode, eliminating wasted power. For example, when printing from a PC or receiving a fax, the MFP's power supply is adjusted so no electricity is sent to the scanner or other idle sections.

* Double-sided printing reduces paper use in offices, an all-important consideration when it comes to forest conservation.

* There are certain MFPs that have outer casings made from the same two types of plastic, creating a closed material-recycling loop for recycling plastics from end-of-life MFPs and incorporating them into the production of newer models. This process enables the recycling of tons of high purity plastics annually.

Finally, it's vital to provide proper training for all office workers (and all employees) on environmental affairs. We tend to think that everybody knows about the need for earth-friendly behaviour, but it's simply not the case.