Inkjet and Toner Saving Software and Solutions

We have covered the costs, non eco friendliness, and inconvenient inkjet printer cartridge area in several articles including refilling inkjet cartridges.  We recently ran across several software programs that claim to help reduce the amount of ink you use while maintaining high resolution quality prints.

Ecofont is a free typeface that looks like Arial but has lots of little holes punched in it, so it will require up to 20% less ink to print. At sizes of 12 point or larger, the holes are very visible. Selecting the font Century Gothic will also reduce the amount of ink that is needed.

inkgard costs $9.99 a year and claims to have upto 75% ink & toner savings. It works on your PC in the background and uses ‘intelligent image processing’ to prevent wasteful overlapping of droplets and toner particles.  They also sell replacement ink.

PretonSaver claims they will save you up to 50% using Pixel Optimizer technology to identify and delete wasteful pixels. Free 30 day trial. $19.99 for a 1 year subscription.

inksaver is another ink saving program that costs about $32 and works with Window.  At least it does not charge by the year. Free 15 day trial.

Kodak inkjet printers have been shown to yield a lower cost printing solution. They charge a fair price on the printer and lower prices on ink.

A free option is to select extremely low-quality, low-ink/toner, b&w printing options in your print options.

Hopefully someday these optimizations will be added to printer drivers themselves. Unfortunately the printer companies have no incentive to do this.

Related posts:

1. HP Officejet Pro 8500 Inkjet Printer Eco Friendly, Green?
2. Discount Ink Cartridges – Costco Inkjet Cartridge Refill Service
3. Free Software saves Computer Power – Eco Button Green Computer Energy Saver – Printer Optimization Software
4. Green Office Supplies at Office Depot
5. Hibernate or Sleep – Computer Energy Saving
6. Windows 7 Energy Saving Power Management
7. Energy Monitors – EnergyHub, Nucleus, Energy Detective
8. Microsoft Hohm Energy Saving Website

Posted on April 16th, 2010
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