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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Energy consumption in personal computer attached laser printers: Past, present, future

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:254606

Personal computer (PC) printers have been criticized in recent years for their energy consumption, with criticism especially targeted at laser printers. The popular view, largely correct, has been that inkjet printers were energy-efficient, while lasers were power {open_quotes}hogs.{close_quotes} it will be shown, however, that laser printer energy consumption has dramatically improved in the last few years, thanks largely to prompting by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency`s (EPA`s) Energy Star program. Two years ago laser printers idled drawing 70 to 100 W; most now idle drawing 5 to 30 W. The inkjet printer`s energy efficiency has been widely publicized, so it will be used as a benchmark throughout this paper. When idle, an inkjet printer draws 5 to 10 W. Some laser printers` total energy consumption has now dropped to a level such that their energy consumption, for similar performance machines, now approaches that of inkjet printers.

Research Organization:
Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (United States); Policy Research Associates, Inc., Reston, VA (United States)
OSTI ID:
254606
Report Number(s):
EPRI-TR--105549; CONF-9410439--
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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