Print servers offer many advantages when managing a company printing environment. Security features such as user authentication and print job monitoring can also be leveraged.
However, operating a print server also involves significant costs. In addition to the cost of purchasing the server, the servers need regular maintenance. The biggest cost factor, however, is their energy consumption. In this blog post, we will show you, using an example calculation, how much money your company can save by replacing print servers with the ezeep Hub.
How Much Power Does a Print Server Consume?
First of all: the power consumption of a print server depends on many factors, including the type of server, age, performance, equipment, and utilization. Therefore, it is impossible to make a universal statement about their actual power consumption. You should simply measure the actual energy consumption of your server.
For our example calculation, let’s assume that a print server, with a declared power of 700 watts, consumes an average 200 watts per hour and runs 24/7. We set the electricity price at 0.168 dollar per kilowatt-hour.
To calculate the annual consumption, we first need to calculate the annual amount of electricity consumed by the server.
Server Power Consumption
Calculation – Annual Power Comsumption
= Wattage x Operating Time x 365 days
Operating Time
= 24 hours a day
Annual Power Consumption
= 200 W x 24 h x 365 days = 1,752,000 Wh
1,752,000 Wh / 1000 = 1752 kWh
Annual Electricity Costs
= 1752 kWh x 0.168 $/kWh
= $294.34
To calculate the costs, we need to multiply the annual power consumption by the price per kWh. Assuming the electricity price is 0.168 dollars per kWh, the annual electricity costs of the print server are:
Annual electricity costs = Annual power consumption x Price per kWh
= 1752 kWh x 0.168 $/kWh = $294.34
This means that a single print server with a power consumption of 200 watts, running 24/7, 365 days a year, will cost you around 300 dollars on your electricity bill.
Huge Savings Potential: Replace Print Servers with the ezeep Hub
One possible alternative to the print server is the ezeep Hub. The ezeep Hub is a tiny, maintenance-free hardware appliance that allows you to connect your printers quickly and easily to the ezeep Cloud without any IT expertise. Printer management is done through the intuitive ezeep portal. This way, you can easily replace print servers and drastically reduce your effort and electricity costs.
Unlike print servers, the ezeep Hub consumes very little power. With a rated power of 13 watts, the ezeep Hub consumed an average of 3 watts in our test.
So, let’s take a look at how much energy costs can be saved by replacing your print server with the ezeep Hub.
ezeep Hub Power Consumption
Annual Power Consumption
= 3 W x 24 h x 365 days = 26,280 Wh
26,280 Wh / 1000 = 26.28 kWh
Annual Electricity Costs
= Annual power consumption x Price per kWh = 26.28 kWh x 0.168 $/kWh
= $4.42
Conclusion and Recommendation
The savings from switching from a print server to the ezeep Hub can be significant. In addition, the ezeep Hub offers other advantages over print servers. It does not require maintenance, takes up little space, and does not require any IT experience to set up.
Therefore, it is also perfect for quickly setting up printing in branch offices or home offices.
Would you also like to learn how to improve the (energy) efficiency of your printer fleet?
Find out more in this blog post »
ezeep Hub Overview
- Dimensions: 9.8 cm x 8.5 cm x 30 cm
- Weight: 105g
- 4 USB Ports, 1x Ethernet
- No moving parts and no maintenance
- Monthly rent + free exchange service