HP Clearly Explains Life Cycle, Product Energy Use Starting With With Eco Highlights Label
by John Laumer, Philadelphia 
on 06. 1.08
This clearly laid out Eco Highlights label by Hewlett-Packard is very big news, we think. For three excellent reasons. The label indicates, for example, that this new model printer, the HP Laserjet P4515, uses 10% less power than the preceding model. (Note that the HP Eco Highlights label is not saying how much less or more power is used per sheet than the competitors models. Instead, it advertises relative energy efficiency improvement as an explicit reason to buy a new HP product.) And they acknowledge the full supply chain, even in the product use phase. More like that please!
Despite all the work that HP is doing to reduce the environmental impact of its printers, though, the biggest problem is the paper itself, according to Klaus Hieronymi of HP's Environmental Business Management Organization.Around two-thirds of the carbon-dioxide emissions caused by printing are due to the manufacturing of the paper, he said, suggesting that the simplest way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from printing activities is to use less paper.
Second, HP has done their life cycle homework; and we should give them credit for that effort.
HP plans to address with a carbon footprint calculator it will put online at the end of June. The calculator will take into account the new and old printers' electricity consumption, and also the source of the electricity:
Finally, and even more exciting, they are among the first to set aggressive design for environment (DfE) principles and publicly hold themselves accountable by actually announcing a goal.
As it reduces its printers' energy consumption, HP wants t o increase the level of recycled materials they contain three-fold by 2011, with those materials coming primarily from old HP printers.That's now becoming possible because HP has spent the past four or five years redesigning its printers "for recyclability," as the Eco Highlights label of the P4515 puts it, using far fewer kinds of plastic. The new Deskjet D2545 is one of the first fruits of that work: Five-sixths of the plastic it contains is recycled.
Go HP.
Via::PC World, HP Puts Green Labels on Black-and-white Printers Image credit::HP
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Great to see HP setting such a good example to all electronics manufacturers - let's hope all the others follow suit quickly.
This is great news!
I am really excited about these new labels. Heck! I think they've sold me on this model already. I love the option to automatically print on both sides. I spend a lot of time flipping each page individually each time I print.
Way to go HP! Let's hope that many other manufacturers follow suit and that format and content are consistent across the field so people can make more informed decisions.
I disagree. This label is filled with meaningless marketing-speak, "50% energy savings over an unspecified (and hence unverifiable) traditional printer."
To do a proper comparison, the label should list numbers determined using a standardized procedure. "Power consumption: 2W standby, 24W in use" and "Toner lasts 8,000 pages using XYZ test."
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Check out the HP website for detailed specs. It isn't possible to get every detail on a small sheet of paper without losing context. For an example of what happens when that is attempted, read almost any Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) - these have become vast databases masquerading as "simple" information- often as long as 6 typewritten pages,
I purchased a HP Deskjet 6980xi this last year and in it's user's manual it absolutely DID list the watt usage per setting. For example - how many watts during standby, with wireless on/off, printing... was quite thorough.
EU Energy Labels are on lots of big appliances (dishwashers, refrigerators, cars etc).
It would be good to see them extended to printers, PCs, computer monitors, TVs etc, now that people care more about their energy consumption.
Xerox make solid ink printers, which do away with the big plastic (wasteful) toner cartridges. You just slot in another ink stick, the only packaging is the wrapper.
Yay for HP! Please keep it up!
I agree that this should be " extended to printers, PCs, computer monitors".
I have suddenly had a "scanner error" on my printer which in effect renders all printing and other functionality useless as well. After contacting HP I have been informed that there are no longer parts for my Photosmart 2613, so I may as well not even bother getting it repaired, and I need to buy a new one.
The printer really isn't very old.. only about 4 years. The Support Technician informed me that HP printers only have a life-cycle of about 5 years and they do not have any Printer Parts recycling programs in place.
They have basically told me to throw my old one away and buy a new one. Apart from the cost factor which is a major inconvenience to me, HP are either very lousy at making printers; as they only last for 5 years, or they have another very un-environmentally friendly agenda. I certainly don't think I'll be buying products from them again any time soon.