Efficient Use of Paper The “Greening” of Toner Xerox’s new toner plant under construction in Webster, N.Y., will be a showplace for “green” processes and technology. Not only is the building the most energy-efficient that Xerox has ever designed, but it also will be used to manufacture Xerox’s patented EA (Emulsion Aggregation) toner, which requires substantially less energy per pound to make than conventional printer and copier toner. The 100,000-square-foot facility represents a $59 million investment for Xerox, including about $20 million for the plant. It is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2007. Xerox integrated the planning for the building and the manufacturing process. The result is an “intelligent building,” packed with sensors and organized into multiple zones that can be separately controlled for most efficient operation. In a typical building, one set of controls operates the heat, cooling and other building functions while another controller is responsible for the manufacturing process. In Xerox’s new plant, the same computer system will control both. More than 3,000 sensors in the five-story building, will feed information about temperature, humidity, air flow, and other variables into a networked system. Depending on the process being run, whole zones of the building may be shut off to reduce energy use. In addition, the manufacturing process itself has been redesigned to be even greener. Currently it takes 25% less energy to grow a pound of EA toner from chemical components than it does to crush large particles of plastics, colorants and other additives into conventional toner particles. The new EA plant will be even more efficient. It will use an improved process that produces more toner for the same amount of total facility and process energy. In all, the new plant promises a new standard of greenness for Xerox and a leg up on meeting the goals of Energy Challenge 2012, a Xerox initiative to reduce energy use and associated greenhouse gas emissions. |