Print in the Channel - October 2022

ENERGY SAVING PRINT PRODUCTS

because they have a responsibility to demonstrate how they are reducing their environmental impact to their stakeholders,” he says. “This trend will continue. Sustainability is now embedded into public sector procurement and delivering local environmental priorities is just one focus of that. And as corporates home in on achieving their Net Zero targets, I believe we will see demand for energy efficient products come from smaller businesses. This in turn will drive the OEMs to develop greener products.” He adds that Kyocera follows a ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ philosophy, which is applied at every stage of the product life cycle. “The approach is iterative, so every product is evaluated for its impact on the environment, including the use of the product by the consumer. One area that is continually examined is energy usage and how the product lowers power consumption and emission of greenhouse gases. “It will be interesting to see how low, in terms of energy efficiency, these products can go If all manufacturers commit to introducing these processes at every stage of product development. There’s definitely an appetite for this in the industry.” Dealer role Dealers have an important role to play in advising customers on which energy saving devices are right for their business and the range of benefits they provide, not just in terms of reduced energy consumption. “They need to look at it holistically, it’s not only to do with energy efficiency but also the green benefits as both are associated with CSR,” says Deyon. “There are also things like device and print management, which help with fleet rationalisation/ reduction to help reduce not only energy costs but other associated running costs.” Deyon adds that other sustainable objectives, such as carbon neutrality, should be highlighted. “Toshiba devices are shipped to the customer as a carbon neutral product, through the Toshiba Carbon Zero Scheme, which is a key consideration

as well as targets to meet to be Net Zero. A lot of companies ask for energy consumption figures when sending out RFI’s so it’s something being asked for more and more, as it feeds into their own CSR and sustainability programmes.” In addition, as Stuart points out, printer ranges such as Canon’s are designed to be energy efficient and reduce consumption, such as using just 0.9W in standby mode or including an auto power on and off function, which helps to reduce energy consumption if a device is left idle. “For example, our uniFLOW Online cloud print solution supports energy savings across print infrastructures,” he says. “It helps to reduce a business’ environmental impact by optimising printing procedures and preventing unnecessary paper waste. The technology can also help to reduce power consumption by eliminating print servers that are constantly live and not in active use. “Devices also produce significantly less CO2 compared to previous models, which is also an important consideration for buyers.” Steven adds that this sort of thing is also being requested by public sector customers in the channel. “Schools, academies and blue light

Stuart Miller, B2B indirect sales director, Canon UK & Ireland

We are seeing an acceleration in enquiries from our customers for solutions that are energy efficient, save costs and can support their organisation’s wider sustainability objectives “ ”

organisations not buying through frameworks are actively asking about energy efficiency

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