December's 2009 Climate Conference COP15 (the 15th Conference of the Parties) promises to be the most important environmental event the planet has ever seen. There is hope that ambitious goals for a reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases, especially CO2, will be set by the 180 countries attending the event in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Konica Minolta has been selected as a main partner of COP15. The company effectively runs several programmes to minimise its impact on the global environment and is considered a leader in environmental and sustainable practices.

This partnership includes the provision of more than 30 Konica Minolta bizhub multifunctional printers (MFPs). Tops Ltd. is the Bermuda distributor of the bizhub machines and the company's vice president, Ed Faries, spoke to the Green Pages about the state-of-the-art machines that will be meeting the printing, copying, scanning and faxing needs at COP15.

At the core of the bizhub is a revolutionary, and award winning, printing system that heats only the surface of the machine's rollers. This results in a significant reduction in heat, fumes and electricity consumption — up to 40 percent compared to previous generation models, according to Konica Minolta.

"They used to put these massive lamps, 1600-1800 watts, inside the rollers that would use a lot of electricity," explains Mr. Faries. "The new technology allows for instant heat so they are not on all day burning up electricity and heating the rooms they are in."

This heat also resulted in a breakdown of the interior components of the printer.

"The parts would become brittle after a few years, they were literally baking from the inside," says Mr. Faries, while also explaining that the bizhub machines are made almost entirely from recycled plastic, part of Konica Minolta's zero waste programme which sees their world wide factories produce only 1.9 percent waste.

Konica Minolta also developed a toner that needs less heat to fuse it to the paper allowing for a reduction in toner consumption of up to 30 percent.

Given Bermuda's large corporate sector Mr. Faries says it is important for companies to think about the impact of the machines they are using and that they can often save money by being more environmentally conscious.

"Here's a company (Konica Minolta) that are extremely keen to reduce their environmental impact and we (Tops Ltd.) are lucky to have picked a company that cares about what it does."

That commitment to the environment dovetails perfectly with the goals of the Climate Conference and this was a decisive factor in their being selected as a suitable partner for COP15.

"The sponsorship agreement with Konica Minolta is an important element in providing an efficient infrastructure at the conference venue," says Svend Olling, Head of Department at the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "Furthermore, we are satisfied that the solution offered by Konica Minolta aims to reduce the environmental impact as much as possible."

Olaf Lorenz, general manager of the International Marketing Division for Konica Minolta Business Solutions Europe explains further: "We have already made major progress in developing eco-friendly devices with low energy consumption and will continue to be ahead of the print market's environmentally sound innovations. Being part of the UN's Climate Change Conference further supports our global efforts to constantly minimise our ecological footprint."

Recently, the company also signed the UN's Global Compact agreement. This initiative aims to solve various increasingly serious issues such as global warming, environmental concerns and social disparities by encouraging each participating company to fulfil sustainable growth and development.

The Conference of the Parties takes all major decisions in worldwide climate negotiations. Its objective is for COP15 to result in a solid global agreement that establishes ambitious goals for a reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases, especially CO2.

The event takes place from December 7 to 18 and up to 15,000 official participants are expected to attend, including government representatives, journalists and members of international organisations and NGOs.

For more information on Konica Minolta products and other Green products available through Tops Ltd. visit www.tops.bm.

Next month's Green Pages, which publishes on December 3, will take a close look at the issue of climate change, how it affects Bermuda and, indeed, our planet.