Below are some tips for environmentally-friendly printing. You can use many of these tips with both your personal printer and SUNY Potsdam owned equipment. Not only will you help the environment, but you will reduce the amount of ink/toner use and save money too! As always, if turning in professional work, be sure that any of the following suggestions are approved by your professor/supervisor!
Adjust Your Margins
Example: the default Microsoft Word margins are 1.25" on each side. By reducing them to .75" you can increase what is printed on each page and reduce the number of total pieces of paper used. Save even more by adjusting the top and bottom margins too! Most every program allows you to do the same sort of "Page Setup", so give it a try!
Duplex Printing
Many of SUNY Potsdam's computing facilities offer the ability to print duplex (aka "Two-Sided Printing".) This is a great way to save paper! Change the default in the "Page Setup" area of the program that you are using.
Print Using The EcoFont
This is a font available for any operating system. The concept behind it is that a font consisting of letters with "holes" in them will reduce the amount of ink/toner use. Using a standard font size (10-12 point) it is barely noticeable, but the effect is less ink/toner used which is great for the environment and good for cost savings too. CTS will be installing this font on all new campus computers and rolling it out in existing campus computer facilities. Download your own copy from the EcoFont website!
Print Only When Necessary
Obviously, the best way to print green is to not print at all! Try reviewing as much as possible using your computer screen and only print on paper when absolutely necessary.