By Jean-Claude Vanderstraeten, Environmental Director, HP Asia Pacific and Japan | Jul 31, 2009

As the world turns green to avert the effects of global warming, being environmentally responsible does not need to come at a cost to the organization because it can, in fact, help them save costs.

HP has outlined a five-step approach to how organizations can save money while doing their part to conserve the environment, which includes:

1.    Reduce Energy Consumption
One of the first steps to reducing energy consumption is in choosing the right products. Check with the IT provider for a list of energy efficient products that are ENERGY STAR® qualified or simply refer to energy-efficiency attributes that are listed on labels that are found on the packaging of printing products.

Organizations should look out for features on the imaging and printing devices that are designed to reduce energy usage. For example, printers with advanced fuser technologies such as HP’s Instant-on Technology produce the first page faster when the printer is coming out of Powersave mode, so the print job is done sooner and the user saves energy.

Choose multi-function devices that perform the functions of multiple machines to reduce overall energy consumption by consolidating the number of devices required in the office environment.
Leverage print management tools to enhance the management efficiency and environmental benefits at the network level, such as setting printer sleep and wake modes to reduce the entire printing fleet’s energy use. Choose print management tools that have the capability to install, configure, troubleshoot and manage all of their networked imaging and printing devices.