isramart : Lexmark urges action to meet EU carbon targets

Isramart news:
Lexmark International, the printing solutions provider, has called on Europe’s public sector organisations to take actions to positively impact the 2020 efficiency and C02 targets set by the European Union (EU).

The company has called for actions such as printer device consolidation, best practice implementation and document workflow optimisation.

EU’s targets include a 20 per cent reduction in emissions from IT devices, products and output by 2020.

Although these are only recommendations, some countries in Europe have already begun implementing greener IT. For example, French Prime Minister François Fillon has issued a bill, communicated to all ministries, which requires all French federal entities to cut their paper consumption in half by 2012.

In Great Britain, the government has set a target for the central government office estate to achieve carbon neutrality by 2012. The goal is to cut greenhouse emissions by 26 per cent by 2020 and at least 60 per cent by 2050.

Departments are asked to implement 18 key steps, such as reducing the overall number of printers used by an organisation and replacing them with multifunction devices, and use green printing defaults wherever possible (such as two-sided and multi-up printing).

While the energy consumption of the information technologies continues to attract headlines, Lexmark’s Life-Cycle Analysis found that most of a printer’s carbon footprint actually comes from paper use – compared with around 10 per cent in terms of energy.

Similarly, the usage phase accounts for 80 per cent for a laser printer. Research conducted by Ipsos on behalf of Lexmark shows that the employees in the public sector print on average 28 pages per day.

Nineteen per cent claim that more than a third of these printed pages are unnecessary and 75 per cent assert that they are trying to reduce useless printing.

Through its work with the public sector throughout Europe, Lexmark maintains that consolidating print hardware and optimising paper-intensive processes could help make EU targets a reality.

Many public sector organisations have disjointed IT systems that have been deployed without an output plan over time – leaving them with too many devices and too much wastage, particularly when it comes to paper.

However, consolidation is not just about using fewer devices. It’s also about having intelligent IT initiatives in place to drive organisation-wide efficiencies. These initiatives are based from the expertise of Lexmark specialists to help customers understand how to encourage responsible printing procedures and help individual workers adopt sustainable printing habits.

“The EU’s energy efficiency and C02 targets point to the public sector as a major contributor to Europe’s carbon emissions,” said Manuel Duhalde, EMEA sales and marketing industry manager at Lexmark International.

“This initiative also recommends that government organisations be standard bearers for the private sector by following EU-recommended Green Public Procurement – and by educating and changing the behaviour of every public sector employee,” he added.

“Lexmark’s value-added proposition was specifically designed to help them achieve this. By implementing Lexmark’s printing solutions as well as educating users about environmental issues, public sector organisations can reduce their reliance on paper and energy and significantly reduce overall printing costs.”

Lexmark has played a significant role in helping government organisations throughout Europe cut both costs and carbon – while at the same time become more efficient and secure in the process, said a statement. – TradeArabia News Service