Government Mandates for Greener Printers

In accordance with revised technical specifications go into effect in July, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the European Commission will require printers, scanners, and other computer products to be more energy efficient if they are to be given Energy Star approval. According to EC Energy Star,

The energy savings triggered by the new imaging equipment requirements in EU-25 has been estimated at about 17 TWh [terawatt hours] during the next three years.

That is roughly as much energy as produced by the country of Ireland in a year, writes Paul Meller of IDG.

Want to know how much energy you'll save? Check out the Energy Calculator and find out. You can also find a database of Energy Star-rated printers and scanners at the EU Energy Star site.