Selection Criteria Laser Printers

Methodology

Topten.eu (Best products of Europe) presents the most energy efficient black-and-white (monochrome) and colour laser printers with a maximum printing speed of 80 pages per minute for the standard paper size (A4 and A3) of Europe.

Technical criteria

In order to be displayed on www.topten.eu, laser printers must

• Actually be available in at least one European country
• Be registred at Energy Star v2.0 or meet comparable requirements
• Be able to print on recycled paper
• Have automatic duplex printing mode (largest part of energy consumption is embodied in paper production)
• Have an energy efficiency index according to the following scheme:

How the EEI translates into max TEC values is shown in this pdf.

Data sources

• Producers’ declarations, found in catalogues and on the web or on request
• Declarations by ‘Energy Star’
• National data-bases and Topten-sites such as www.topten.ch

Order of presentation

Products are ranked according to their Typical Electricity Consumption (TEC, kWh/week), declared according to the Energy Star specifications (Version 2.0). The order of presentation can be changed by clicking the tables’ headings.

Glossary

Brand, Model, Similar Model

Products of similar construction or identical technical values are displayed only once. Clicking in the column makes the specific brands and models visible.

Electricity costs (€ in 5 years)

Assumptions:

• Costs for electricity during 5 years (printer’s mean life time)
• According to the standardised Typical Electricity Consumption (TEC)
• Tariff of electricity: 0.20 €/kWh. (This should be understood as order of magnitude as there can be large differences depending on country or electrical utility.)

Speed monochrome/colour (ipm)

Maximum number of pages (A4) the model can print per minute (pages per minute = ipm), according to the standardised methodology of Energy Star.

TEC (kWh/week)

The Typical Electricity Consumption (kWh/week) is measured according to the standardised methodology of Energy Star for imaging equipment (Version 2.0). The TEC methodology assumes a typical usage dependent on the printing speed of products: printers with a higher printing speed monochrome (ipm) are tested with a higher number of daily copies. Only products with a TEC below a certain value, which is depending on the printing speed, are labelled with the Energy Star.

Energy Efficiency Index (%)

The Energy Efficiency Index (EEI, in %) is calculated by Topten based on the product’s TEC and Energy Star’s TEC limit value: EEI= TEC(product) / TEC (Energy Star limit value)*. A printer with an EEI of 20% has an energy consumption 80% lower than required by Energy Star. Because of rounding, products with the same printing speed can have a different EEI despite seeming to have the same TEC.

*Energy Star grants an allowance of 0.3 kWh/week to A3-models. Topten does not consider this allowance.

Power Sleep (Watt)

Power input when in the Sleep mode, in Watt.

Paper size

Maximum paper size.

Paper capacity (sheets)

Standard paper supply in number of sheets for the paper cassette and the multi-purpose tray, e.g. 500+100. Usually there is the option to significantly increase it for a somewhat higher price; e.g. (+550).

Print memory (MB)

Random Access Memory (RAM), in Megabytes (MB).

Two-sided output

Also called duplexing: capability to print on both sides of a sheet.
Yes = this mode is as a standard included in this product
No = this mode is not contained and cannot be integrated into this product
Option = this mode can be integrated into the product for a higher price

Available in countries

This item displays the availability of models in European countries according to producers’ declarations, national Topten sites. "EU" means all countries of the European Union. However, the availability is sometimes difficult to define precisely depending on retailers' selling decisions or if the supply is stated as possible on catalogues but there is no marketing for specific products in some countries.
"On demand" means, that producers could not indicate the availability and that consumers have to ask in their countries on their own. The country codes are according to ISO.

Infoplus

Standards and Labels

• Energy Star Program Requirements for Imaging Equipment (Version 2.0) .
• Energy Star : Labelling for Energy Efficient Office Equipment. Information from Europe and the United States.
• Commission regulation No. 1275/2008 on Ecodesign requirements for Standby and Off mode power consumption, and
• Ecodesign regulation No 801/2013 on networked Standby, amending regulation No 1275/2008
• European Commission and Imaging Industry: Voluntary Industry Agreementto improve the environmental performance of imaging equipment (Version from December 2012), adopted by the European Commission in January 2013: Executive summary of the impact assessment of the Voluntary Agreement.
• Blue Angel, Berlin (Germany): Office printing devices (copiers, multifunction devices, office devices, printers, printing devices; RAL-UZ 171), recycled paper (RAL-UZ 14).
• TCO Stockholm (Sweden).
• FSC Forest Stewardship Council

Publications

• Professional Procurement: Office Equipment. Recommendations for executives, persons responsible for procurement and IT. Topten International Group, WWF, European Energy Award, S.A.F.E. October 2009.

Links

• The european council for an energy efficient economy eceee provides a status overview on all products in the Ecodesign & Energy Labelling process
• Coolproducts informs about the EU ecodesign process. It is a coalition of NGOs' campaign for a stronger, fast Ecodesign Directive to save the climate and money.

Producers and retailers are kindly asked to contact info(at)topten.info to inform about more products which meet the Topten selection criteria.

07/2019 Bush