We believe that Xerox, as a global business, must do its part to reduce the risks of climate change. While our ultimate goal is to become climate-neutral as a company, our immediate focus is reducing energy consumption in our own operations and providing sustainable document management technology and solutions to our customers to reduce the energy and environmental impacts of their business. We are making investments in several initiatives to support this goal.
Reducing Energy Consumption through Xerox Products and Solutions
ENERGY STAR® Savings
More than 10 years before the inception of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR Office Equipment program, Xerox introduced the first imaging product with an automatic power-down mode. Since joining with the EPA as a Charter Partner in 1993, we have introduced over 500 copier, printer, fax and multifunction products that have earned ENERGY STAR status. This continued success in cutting the power consumption of our laser-based printing products has been achieved by adjustments in the fuser design, changes to the properties of the toner, more-efficient electronic controls and the workings of the xerographic system as a whole.
A more exacting ENERGY STAR standard became effective on April 1, 2007. Previously the ENERGY STAR criteria for office copiers, printers and multifunction systems measured power consumed only in power-saver modes such as standby and low-power modes. The new standard asks a different question: How much energy would the device use during a typical week? It measures the energy consumed if the system mimics the tempo of a normal office, running a sample job mix with downtime for lunch, overnight and on weekends. The result is a Typical Electricity Consumption (TEC) number that must meet the EPA’s tough new requirements for a product to achieve ENERGY STAR status. The EPA’s new ENERGY STAR requirements raised the bar so significantly that only 25% of products in the marketplace were expected to meet the new criteria. At Xerox, among eligible products, 80% of 2008 new product introductions passed this tough test. One example of the company’s success is the Xerox WorkCentre® 7425/7428/7435 color multifunction printers with speeds from 20–35 pages per minute. Based on ENERGY STAR testing methods, the WorkCentre 7435 uses 5.8 kWh per week of electricity, about 30% less than a comparable color multifunction printer previously offered by Xerox.
The ENERGY STAR program continues to raise the standard over time with tougher requirements that went into effect on July 1, 2009, and our goal is to have 90% of new product introductions achieve this ecolabel in 2010.
Xerox engineers used light emitting diode (LED) technology in newly designed printheads that last the life of the machine to reduce sleep mode power consumption to less than two watts.
1000 kWh
Annual energy consumption of an office copier, four laser printers and one fax machine, based on U.S. EPA ENERGY STAR®-rated typical electricity consumption.
450 kWh
Annual energy consumption of a Xerox WorkCentre® multifunction system.
“All in One” = Less Energy Use
Xerox multifunction systems further reduce the amount of energy required to copy, print, fax and scan by combining the functions of multiple products into one machine. The annual energy consumption of a Xerox WorkCentre multifunction system is about one-half of the combined annual energy consumption of the individual ENERGY STAR-qualified copiers, fax machines and printers that it replaces. Energy savings would be substantially higher if a multifunction system replaces individual products that have not earned the ENERGY STAR rating.
“Right-Sizing” Office Printing Further Reduces Energy Use
Xerox also works with customers to improve the efficiency of their office document management by assessing their actual printing needs and developing solutions that meet that need – often by dramatically reducing the number of stand-alone and networked office equipment devices, saving energy and associated greenhouse gas emissions and reducing solid waste.
In 2008, Xerox unveiled the industry’s first Sustainability Calculator, designed to help customers understand the benefits of Xerox solutions and pinpoint opportunities to reduce their environmental impact while reducing costs. The software tool estimates the overall impact a company’s document technologies have on the environment and allows customers to see how that can be reduced by “right-sizing” their print environment. It evaluates the current office environment of printers, copiers and multifunction devices and then estimates environmental benefits that could be achieved in terms of energy and paper use, solid waste, water, air and greenhouse gas emissions. The tool includes an evaluation of impacts that span raw material extraction, manufacturing, use and disposal. This broad view extends the evaluation to life cycle impacts, providing customers a more complete and fact-based estimate of their environmental footprint and an understanding of the kind of actions that will reduce their footprint. Xerox customer case studies reveal that life cycle impacts can be significantly reduced. By optimizing its print infrastructure, one customer reduced the number of devices in half, achieved a 27% reduction in life cycle energy consumption, cut life cycle greenhouse gas emissions by 26% and reduced solid waste by 33%. Learn more at www.xerox.com/sustainabilitycalculator.