Xerox turns down the heat, saves power with green printing innovation

Have you noticed how much more the tech companies have started to talk about technology (software AND hardware) to help cut back on paper consumption over the past two months? Well, here's a slight twist from Xerox, which is focusing on improved power efficiency in the printing process with its latest green tech innovation, something called Ultra Low-Melt EA (Emulsion Aggregation) Toner.

The basic premise of the new technology is that the toner materials melt at a much lower temperature than future generations, which contributes to cutting total power consumption for the printer using the toner by between 15 percent and 30 percent. The melting point is about 45 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than for traditional Xerox toner. What's more the design also uses less material, as well, to create the image on the printer page. The material used in the toner combines polyester, colored pigments and wax particles, among other things. Xerox has filed 35 patents related to the technology.

Here's the full Xerox press release with more details.

Six 25,000-gallon tanks related to the new toner are being installed in Webster, N.Y. The first product to use it will be the Xerox 700 Digital Color Press, although it will be applicable to all future devices that Xerox releases from the desktop to high-speed commercial printing presses.