News 16 December 2019 News from SKAO
Bridge builder goes for sustainable printer to save CO2
Haasnoot Bruggen is certified at level 3 of the CO2 Performance Ladder. After making the electricity more sustainable, the bridge builder started looking for other measures to reduce CO2 and reduce the environmental impact of the organization. That is why Haasnoot Bruggen ended up with Basic Office Solutions, a company that offers sustainable printing solutions and thus saves 92 percent CO2 emissions. SKAO spoke with both Haasnoot Bruggen and Basic Office Solutions about this energy-saving printing technique.
How inkjet printers save energy
"In contrast to a laser printer that is widely used in organizations, an inkjet printer has many more environmental benefits," says Marcel van Dongen, consultant at Basic Office Solutions. “That is mainly due to energy consumption. A laser printer works on the basis of a type of oven. To print, the oven in the printer is heated to more than 200 degrees, so that the toner is heated and printed on the paper. Often you also notice from the paper that you take from a laser printer that it is still warm. Heating that little oven requires a lot of energy. You dont have that with an inkjet printer. An inkjet printer works on the basis of a cold printing mechanism, which means that the device is not heated. This leads to an energy saving of 96 percent compared to the laser printer."
“In addition, a laser printer consists of parts that often need to be replaced, such as the four different toner cartridges, drums, developers, transfer belts and burn-in units (oven). This produces a lot of waste. With an inkjet printer you only need four ink bags. These are therefore the only parts that usually have to be replaced. Such a large ink bag lasts 84,000 prints. This is very pleasant for end users, because they then have to replace the parts less often. The ink that an inkjet printer uses is based on water, making it biodegradable. This is also an environmental benefit compared to the laser printer”, Van Dongen explains.
CO2-neutral production with 1,256 solar panels on the roof
To replace various old laser printers, Haasnoot Bruggen has installed an Epson-Business inkjet printer in the company building via Basic Office Solutions. “We have been approached by Basic Office Solutions with the Business inkjet printer,” says Paul Verbaken, responsible for certification at Haasnoot Bruggen. “We have been working on sustainable measures to reduce our environmental impact for some time. From that point of view it was interesting for us to look further into this printing technique. In addition, we already had old printers that we wanted to replace, so thats how the ball started rolling.”
The bridge builder has been certified since 2017 on level 3 of the CO2 Performance Ladder. Clients, in particular municipalities, pointed out the CO2 Performance Ladder to Haasnoot Bruggen. Government institutions such as municipalities make use of the Ladder in tenders. For example, organizations can register for tenders and win the project with a fictional discount on their registration by being certified on the CO2 Performance Ladder.
Haasnoot Bruggen has already taken steps to map the carbon footprint of the organization. However, it was not yet concrete and structural. The CO2 Performance Ladder changed that. "Already when we constructed our office building, we looked at measures we could take to save CO2," said Fred Floor, technical director at Haasnoot Bruggen. “The roof of our building is filled with 1.256 solar panels, with which we generate green electricity and produce CO2 neutrally. Last year we had 30 percent of our electricity generated and this year we expect to keep 40 percent of the electricity generated. We are now looking into the options for using the remaining electricity to drive electrically.”
Testing sustainable innovations on projects
In his projects too, the bridge builder is researching ways to reduce CO2 by saving electricity and energy. An example of this is the testing of portable batteries to replace aggregates. Verbaken: “Our colleagues who work at project locations use electrical tools for which aggregates are used. By replacing the aggregates with portable batteries, we can save on diesel consumption. After all, we can charge the batteries with the electricity that we ourselves have generated in the building. In addition, we can also save on fuel consumption because transporting an aggregate requires more fuel than transporting portable batteries. We have only just tested the batteries and our employees are positive about this.”
In addition, the company makes the bridges in its factory as much as possible, which means that transport takes place once to the project location. "Our biggest emissions still come from diesel that we use to transport our bridges to the project location," says Floor. “If we look at avoided emissions, we have made the right decision with this. By producing our bridges in our factory and transporting them once to the project location, we save more CO2 than we would if we were to build the bridges on site. That requires more transport of materials.”
The digitization of information
In the context of, among other things, the CO2 Performance Ladder and from its own conviction, Haasnoot Bruggen continues to look for sustainable solutions that make work more efficient and reduce CO2. Thanks to this setting, the use of the energy-saving Business inkjet printer in the company is also made possible.
The question now is whether it is better not to print since it consumes paper. "We are indeed seeing changes in the use of paper, but it is still an information carrier that is widely used," says Van Dongen. “People still like to have paper with them to take notes and to transfer information. On the other hand, that information is increasingly being distributed digitally. As a supplier of printers, it is then important to continue to facilitate people with new developments, software and applications in distributing information, whether on paper or digitally.”
Floor: “The use of paper will always remain. Our artists often stare at a design of our bridges on a screen for a long time, but when they print the drawings, they often see corrections that are less noticeable on a screen. Then they also make their designs on printed paper more tangible. If printing still needs to be made, we therefore choose to do so with 92 percent less CO2.”