Here’s an idea that is so simple, it’s almost hilarious! Yet it’s effective and can result in serious savings as well as being kind to the environment. It’s called Ecofont. (They arrived at the name by combining the eco from ecology and maybe economy and font as in type font.)
The idea is to use existing type fonts on computers and modify them so that they use less ink. The software also helps use less ink by offering options that reduce or eliminate unnecessary photos and paragraphs.
In the end it can save up to half the ink, reduce paper use and wear and tear on printers, plus it reduces green house gasses. Brilliant!
You can see how the savings is achieved.
When printed, the reader can barely see the holes, but the enlarged scan shown here makes the difference clearly visible.
Regular Arial — magnified
Ecofont Arial — magnified
Ecofont savings: evidence in black and white.
Test results for Ecofont Arial 12pts shows ink/toner savings of 28%.
With the extra savings options you can even Save up to 50% and paper too.
This includes:
Printing without unnecessary (background) images or in greyscale
Printing only a selection, not entire email conversations (richtext)
Printing text and tables in greyscale
A measurable ink/toner savings.
The coverage of a printed document can be analyzed with software (Apfill).
One page is printed with Arial and another is printed with Ecofont Arial.
Both documents are scanned at a high resolution and analyzed.
The result is saving of 28%
Ink/toner savings confirmed by weight.
The toner consumption can be measured by weighing the cartridge before and after printing.
This method requires a very precise scale. A test performed with 200 printed pages
in Arial and Ecofont Arial 12pts on a Samsung CLX 6220 FX printer
with driver PCL5CE 5.97 showed toner savings of 28%.
Weight before printing 200 pgs
Weight after printing 200 pgs
Weight of toner used
Arial 12pts
1137.5 g
1122.1 g
15.4 g
Ecofont Arial 12pts
1122.1 g
1111.1 g
11.0 g
Advantages of Ecofont software
Save up to 50% on ink/toner costs
Promote environmentally sound practices
Holes not visible on-screen, just on paper
Print without images or in greyscale
Only print your selection, not entire email conversations (richtext)
Works with all printers
Print to .PDF files so your readers will print environmentally friendly too
Free updates
Reduce overall printing costs
Saves Printing Costs in Several Ways
The total costs of a printed page include the amortized cost of the printer, the paper, the maintenance costs and the price of the ink and toner.
The ink and toner represent the largest part of this price by far; the other items only represent a part of the total costs. For companies, however, the amount of savings can be significant. In the business world, the average employee prints around 10,000 pages per year. The combination of reduced ink use results in enhanced profit through savings.
Easier on the environment
The production of ink is an especially CO2 intensive process – a fact that is not as well known by the public. By saving on ink and toner with Ecofont software, companies can considerably decrease the environmental impact.
You have to admire this idea. It is so simple. It won’t have a negative effect on the overall operation of business yet can result in benefits to the environment and to the bottom line.
