Whilst we are coming out of the recession and businesses are starting to feel a little more confident, you may be forgiven for thinking that being green is the last thing on the mind of our company bosses and entrepreneurs. Actually there are plenty of incentives and deals out there for businesses to go green, not least the prospect of showing off their credentials to potential customers.

It seems we’re all working together to save the planet and reduce carbon emissions. Businesses can benefit from renewable energies that earn them extra income through the government’s Feed in Tariffs but they can also cut costs by choosing technology that is more efficient.

It’s no different for printers and many of the MFPs on the market today have pretty good green credentials if you have the time to look around.

If you are looking for a printer then one of the first clues to its energy efficiency is the EU Energy Star, a small blue logo that appears on most hardware to prove that it meets the right standards. If your printer has this mark then you’re in pretty good company when it comes to being low carbon and planet friendly.

The amount of power your MFP uses is important, especially if you are paying the electricity bills. Older machines naturally guzzle more energy than new ones which have lower consumptions but also intelligent sleep modes that can knock down running costs in an instant.

Paper may often be recycled but that doesn’t mean you should go around wasting it. If your printer doesn’t have a duplex mode then you are missing a trick if you want to be the greenest business around. Printing both sides obviously cuts down the amount of paper you use, so it’s a no brainer. Automatic duplex does this for you without your staff having to feed the paper back into the copier and is a great time, and paper, saving technology.

One of the big money savings can often come with toner, something which many businesses find expensive. Newer machines now come with a high yield toner mode that means you get more out of this particular consumable than if you have a standard MFP. Essentially it lets you print more for less, saving you money and reducing your impact on the environment.

In big, busy offices there is a greater tendency for printing to go unmonitored with many people using a particular MFP for lots of different things. This can help costs to spiral. Having a robust and easy to understand copying and printing policy in place will make sure that the amount you spend on printing is kept under control and even reduced.

And finally, going digital can help reduce your costs and increase your green credentials even more. With the latest technology you can now copy a document and send it digitally to either a smartphone or tablet rather than printing out something hardcopy. That can make a major difference in the way your office and staff operate and is one of the surest ways of cutting down your carbon footprint.