Producing cartridges and laser toners requires energy for the plants where they are
produced. And the energy does not always come “in a green way”. Did you know
that there are serious side effects of our electricity consumption?
Our electricity company might burn fossil fuel to create your electricity. This discharges
various substances into the air, including sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter,
carbon dioxide, and volatile organic compounds. In addition, because of inefficiencies
in the power plant, the consumption generates waste heat that is usually dissipated
by the evaporation of water.
How can I contribute?
Well, it works quite the same way as with oil. Ecologically produced cartridges and toners do not need that much electricity, since it is mostly done with special light mechanic machinery and not with the big hydraulic machines that usually produce a new plastic container.
Facts
If one out of every 100 American homes was retrofitted with water-efficient fixtures, we could save about 100 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year — avoiding 80,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions. The greenhouse gas savings would be equivalent to removing nearly 15,000 automobiles the road during one year (EPA, 2008)!.
World electricity demand is expected to double between 2000 and 2030. The greatest increase will occur in the developing world, and the most rapid growth will occur in people's homes (Worldwatch Institute, 2007).
Electricity production is the leading cause of industrial air pollution in the United States, and is responsible for 40% of the nation's carbon emissions that contribute to global climate change (Worldwatch Institute, 2007).
At most, 35 percent of the coal's energy in a power plant converts to actual electricity. The remaining two thirds is lost as waste heat, benefiting no one and often harming surrounding ecosystems (Worldwatch Institute, 2007).
Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) are an energy-saving alternative to incandescent bulbs: they produce the same amount of light, use one third of the electricity, and last up to ten times as long (Worldwatch Institute, 2007).
If every household replaced its most often-used incandescent light bulbs with CFLs, electricity use for lighting could be cut in half (Worldwatch Institute, 2007).
Where electricity is produced from coal, each fluorescent light bulb used prevents nearly 600 kilograms of CO2 emissions and 20 pounds of sulfur dioxide from being pumped into the atmosphere (Worldwatch Institute, 2007).
A refrigerator built 20 years ago uses 70% more energy than today's energy-efficient models (Environment Canada, 2007).
Today's dishwashers are about 95% more energy-efficient than those bought in 1972: your old dishwasher may be costing you more money in energy bills than it would take to buy a new one (Environment Canada, 2007).
Many idle electronics — TVs, VCRs, DVD and CD players, cordless phones, microwaves — use energy even when switched off to keep display clocks lit and memory chips and remote controls working. Nationally, these energy “vampires” use 5 percent of our domestic energy and cost consumers more than $8 billion annually (Alliance to Save Energy, 2005).
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How can you save electricity
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Why recycle?
- Saves landfill space.
- Saves natural resources.
- Saves energy.
- Creates jobs.
Interesting Facts about Recycling and the Environment
Making cans from recycled aluminum cuts related water pollution by 97%.
Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a television for three hours.
Manufacturing new aluminum cans, from used beverage containers, uses 95% less energy than producing them from virgin materials, an energy saving equivalent to tens of millions of barrels of oil each year.
By recycling all the oil filters sold annually in the U.S., enough steel would be recovered to build 16 new baseball stadiums.
80-90% of all lead acid (motor vehicle) batteries are recycled in the USA.
The average motor vehicle battery contains between 18-22 pounds of recoverable lead, a gallon of sulfuric acid, and about three pounds of polypropylene casing.
It takes half a barrel of crude oil to produce the rubber in just one tire (44 gal. = 1 barrel of oil).
Every ton of recycled paper saves 17 trees, 7,000 gallons of water, and 4,100 kilowatts of electricity.
It takes 500,000 trees to produce the Sunday papers printed in the U.S.
Every year, Americans dispose of enough plastic film to shrink-wrap the entire state of Texas.
If every American household recycled just one out of ten milk jug bottles (HDPE) they used, landfills would save 200 million pounds worth of space yearly.
Americans use 2.5 million plastic bottles per hour.
Making steel cans from recycled steel reduces energy consumption by 74%, virgin materials by 90%, associated air pollution by 86%, water consumption by 40%, and associated water pollution by 76%.
All steel products contain at least 25% recycled content.
Composting saves limited landfill space and turns garbage into a valuable resource. It can reduce your trash and improve plant health and retain soil moisture with the use of the compost.
In the USA, it takes 15,000 tons of waste buried in a landfill to create one full-time job. Recycling that material results in nine jobs.
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